Joanne, a nurse at Fylde Spire Hospital, Blackpool, and Pete will be flying out to Kenya next week to make their fourth visit to our Happy House family.
And as Joanne's colleagues at Spire have always been so supportive in providing both clothing for our children and donations, she arranged an evening of Prosecco and nibbles to let them know more about our wonderful family and to raise money at the same time.
Jo started the evening by telling how she and Pete had discovered Happy House and how they had wanted to help, initially, to get their sons, Jacob and Maxwell, then young teenagers, involved in helping others using their love of sport as motivation.Since that first visit their link with Happy House has grown ever stronger and they now sponsor a little girl, Florence.
Elizabeth Gomm took over with an introduction to our family and our inspirational Mama Sue and Papa Dave. She emphasised the importance of sponsorship as the monthly income it brings is our financial underpinning.Guests both laughed and cried as they watched a video bringing our Happy House to life.
Peter also spoke about how Happy House touched their lives and how, even before before they set off on their trip, they are dreading the time when they have to leave again to come back home.The evening raised £291 (with the promise of more to come) which Jo and Pete will use to buy groceries and household supplies for Happy House while they are there.
We also gained five new members of our family, who signed up to sponsor a child.
It was a lovely evening, thank you Jo and Pete for arranging it and thank you to everyone who came along.
