I run a branch of a charity, I didn't run it until recently when it was dropped into my lap at short notice.
Basically, we bring over disadvantaged and not-so-healthy children from Belarus, who have lived their lives under the shadow of the Chernobyl bomb. These kids have spent their lives eating food contaminated with radiation, and the rates of childhood cancer over there are 75%. live births currently 80% are born either with a physical deformity, or with cancer.
So the charity brings children in groups of 10, with an interpreter, to the UK for four weeks over the summer, and these kids stay with host families in pairs for a fortnight at a time and are looked after, fed, loved and clothed by these families who often take time from their own annual leave at work to do so.
We rely totally on volunteers and companies to donate days out or trips for these children, and I asked MNHQ if they could help.
The fantastic team have managed to come up trumps for me, and Alton Towers have given us 5 x 4-person FAMILY PASSES to go this summer - I'm so, so thrilled!
Thankyou so much to Freja at Alton Towers - you are an absolute star, as of course are the team behind the scenes here. I never expected anything so fantastic for the children, and I cannot wait to see their faces!
Our charity is here www.chernobylchildrenleeds.co.uk