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| Libby with John Magee at Freeport |
The big-hearted management and traders at Freeport Fleetwood Outlet Shopping Centre have rallied to the call to help equip a temporary UK home for our Mama Sue and Papa Dave.
Mama and Papa start their journey back from Kenya today, so that Mama can undergo urgent treatment on the leg she fractured in five places at the end of May.
Finding, furnishing and equipping a home, in just over a week, has been a real challenge for Libby but, with enormous help from our friends, she's about there and ready for moving-in day tomorrow (Friday).
And the generous people at Freeport have come up with so many lovely new things to help make Sue and Dave comfortable - from bedding to kitchen equipment, plus a few luxury extras like scented candle and toiletries. Many of the items were donated by Pro Cook, Hallmark, Rectella and Room.
Centre manager John Magee, who is a friend of Libby's from her newspaper days, and who sponsors Danwata scholarship student Kennedy, pulled out all the stops when he heard about Mama and Papa's plight.
Traders on Freeport have donated items and Jim McKinnon, director of their cleaning and security contractor, Care Facilities Management, has also weighed in to help.
John said:"I am delighted that we could do something towards helping Sue and Dave feel at home during their stay here. It must be very difficult having to leave the amazing family they have created at the Happy House to come here for several months of medical treatment.
"They have made so many sacrifices in the years leading up to, and since, opening the Happy House that I only wish I could do more for them.
"What they are giving to the children, who have come from desperate situations of poverty, neglect or abuse, is priceless. They are giving them hope. They have created a safe and loving home for 84 kids, now they, themselves, are uprooted. They deserve a little comfort and a few new things around them."
Mama, Papa and Libby are so grateful to John and to the traders who have donated, and to Jim McKinnon for his help.
Special thanks also to the wonderful friend who helped to secure an apartment for Mama and Papa and to all those other friends who have helped furnish and equip it.
