Stewart and Terry’s big charity toy bonanza

Over the past few weeks, Stewart Campbell and Terry Hunter have busy collecting donations for the Children’s Hospice, and asking local businesses to donate toys, games and other gifts to hand over to the young people in the hospice at Christmas.

“Every year we would just buy gifts out of our own pocket and leave them up to the hospice, but this year we asked all our friends on Facebook to donate £1 each for each of the 500 lights on our Christmas tree,” Stewart explained.

“People have been really generous and have been donating fivers, tenners and even £20 at a time, so we’ve been able to buy loads of things that the kids want like tablets (hand-held computers) and the latest chart CDs.

“The businesses we’ve approached have also been really generous, so we’ve already managed to raise about £1,700 in cash and about £400 worth of goods.”

Stewart (32) and Terry (48) will be continuing their fundraising campaign until Friday, December 14, and are urging more people to visit Stewart’s Facebook page and donate using the PayPal link.

Thanking them for their efforts on behalf of the Children’s Hospice, Peter McCabe, Community Fundraiser with the charity, commented: “We have been greatly encouraged by the response so far from the people of Rathcoole, Newtownabbey and beyond to Stewart and Terry’s fundraising efforts.

“Following the fantastic donations of so many toys and gifts, to maximise the benefits for the local children and young people who avail of our services in the weeks leading up to Christmas, we are asking supporters to now concentrate on raising monies for nursing care, rather than donating presents. Whilst Stewart and Terry will still accept toys and other gifts, donations - preferably via Stewart & Terry’s PayPal account - will be particularly appreciated, with every £30 raised enabling Children’s Hospice to provide an extra hour of vital nursing care.”

To make a donation to Stewart and Terry’s fundraiser log on to www.facebook.com/NIHospice and click on one of Stewart’s posts for the link to his PayPal account.