Fundraiser for GOSH

[NannyOggsKnickers]

Hi All

I've suggested to MNHQ that we start a campaign to raise money for GOSH and the incredible work that they do. Recent events have got me thinking more and more about the terrible situations some parents find themselves in and it would be great to raise money to support treatment and care for parents and children who find themselves dealing with illness.
What kind of fund raising could we do? Would anyone be interested in seeing a MNHQ campaign to raise money for this kind of charity?

[BoreOfWhabylon]

There is a poster who has a child with a mitochondrial disease. A couple of weeks ago her child was dangerously ill with sepsis on top of her illness. The poster was, of course, staying with her child as much as possible, as she has had to do so often throughout the course of her illness.

Her child was not in a hospital with a R McD House or much in the way of facilities for families of very sick children. Travel, accomodation costs, loss of work etc all mean that having a very sick child in hospital is a costly business. The poster had not had a hot meal for a week.

I would far rather support a charity/organisation that ensured that parents of children in ITUs anywhere in the country could obtain practical assistance without feeling that they were begging. I do think that is something that MN could and should get behind.

[BoreOfWhabylon]

Maybe MN could work with R McD House and/or Sick Children's Trust.

[teawamutu]

I was going to suggest what Bore outlined; practical support for parents to take at least one pressure off their shoulders and give them at least some material comfort. I was much moved by the same poster's story.

[Cheby]

I'm in.

The NHS had been royally screwed over. Specialist hospitals are in even more trouble as funding mechanisms don't adequately cover rare and unique work. A huge amount of what GOSH do on a day to day basis for NHS patients is paid for by charitable donations. It shouldn't be that way but it is. Patient care will suffer if their donations drop.

[erinaceus]

If one wants to organise a fundraiser, one has to actually do it. Maybe discuss with GOSH and see if they can offer any support for a fundraising activity? MNHQ do not need to support something formally, in order for it to get off the ground. See also: Let Toys Be Toys, which I believe had its origins on MN.

[NannyOggsKnickers]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm just looking to see what interest there is and iron out some of the details. From what people have said there is interest in raising money for GOSH and for smaller PICU units/ family support services.
What I'd suggest now is maybe doing the GOSH fund raiser separately from MNHQ but getting them on board with a campaign for better support on services for parents in PICU.
If anyone is interested in joining the GOSH fundraiser then let me know and I'll start to get something organised. Keep going on this thread though with idea of what we might want HQ to do as a campaign. So far people have mentioned:

1. raising awareness and the profile of smaller PICU and hospital units.
   
2. a campaign to support either Ronald McDonald house or one of the other charities that support parents with children in hospital.
   Or
   
3. perhaps starting our own MN based campaign. Not sure about this one.

[NannyOggsKnickers]

As a starting point there is this 5k in London in October for GOSH. We could create a team
www.gosh.org/get-involved/fundraising-events/rbc-race-kids?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=rftk_2017&utm_content=GOSHpagelikers_running_20_jul

[Mamagin]

If there are any other very slow people, then I would be interested in joining a Mumsnet team for the 5k.
How long do we have to leave it before we start to do something good? I agree that there are other options, and it would be great to support children and parents country wide.

[NannyOggsKnickers]

Don't worry. I am super slow too. Am going to have to start couch to 5k to do this! Any other takers?