A CHRISTLETON High School student has supported his mum’s fundraising for Hope House Children’s Hospices by cooking up a donation of more than £200 through a cake sale at school.

Jack Christmas, 13, wanted to support his mum, Kerry, a serving Cheshire police officer who raised more than £3,000 for Hope House by running 440 sponsored miles to mark her 44th birthday.

So Jack, who recruited fellow Christleton High School pupil Katie Williams, 14, to help him in baking and selling cakes to students and staff, decided he’d do his bit to help raise funds for a charity he describes as amazing.

Jack said: “My mum has been raising funds for Hope House Children’s Hospices for a long time and my sister, Gracie, and I have always helped.

“Mum has a condition called functional movement disorder which means she gets pretty tired. So to run 440 miles to raise funds for Hope House was brilliant. I thought if I could add to that total it would be a good thing to do.

“My school friend Katie Williams agreed to help and we baked cakes and brownies and held three sales over a few weeks in school. That raised £202.47. I’m really pleased to have been able to raise this money.”

He added: “Hope House is an amazing charity and I’m just so pleased we sold so many cupcakes and brownies to raise so much money. The school has been brilliant in allowing Kate and I to fundraise in this way.”

Katie Williams, 14, added: “I knew Jack’s mum was running and raising funds for Hope House and Jack wanted to raise money to support his mum’s fundraising and thought it would be a good thing to help.

“Hope House is such a wonderful charity and I’m so glad I could help. I’m so pleased we raised so much money and it made all the hard work baking at home worthwhile.”

Hope House Children’s Hospice area fundraiser Catrin Dowdeswell says she is really grateful for Jack and Katie’s efforts in raising funds.

She said: “I know Jack’s mum, Kerry, has been a very loyal supporter of Hope House over many years.

“In fact the whole family, including Jack and Gracie have, so it comes as no surprise that Jack came up with the idea of a bake sale at school to raise even more funds for us.

“Jack and Katie have done amazingly well to raise more than £200 through their hard work. They have done amazingly well and I’m delighted with the amount of money they have raised.”

She added: “Currently there are 43 families with a Chester postcode being supported by Hope House either through respite care in the hospice or at home. Others use our Snowflake facility or the bereavement and counselling service.

“It costs £1,300 for a child's day of care at Hope House Children’s Hospices, while 79p from every pound that comes through our doors comes from fundraising and 89p from every pound raised goes directly on the care of the children.

“Sadly, every week, three local families face their biggest fear and their child dies. Hope House Children’s Hospices cannot stop children dying but we can stop families suffering on their own.

“When they are facing the most devastating loss of their lives we must be there. We need to reach every child, mum, dad, sister and brother and to do this we need to raise more money so we can offer even more services.

“We need to raise in excess of £6m a year to support all the children and families we help from across North Wales, Shropshire and parts of Cheshire.

“Every little helps and that’s why it’s so important we have as much help as possible from schools, communities and businesses across the region.”

  • To find out more about Hope House Children’s Hospices, visit www.hopehouse.org.uk.