Charitable youngster holds village day Teddy Tombola

A Teddy Tombola has raised more than £900 for Alzheimer's Society, thanks to a dedicated 10-year-old fundraiser.
Caitlin Sullivan from Rudgwick with the teddies she re-homed to raise funds for Alzheimer's SocietyCaitlin Sullivan from Rudgwick with the teddies she re-homed to raise funds for Alzheimer's Society
Caitlin Sullivan from Rudgwick with the teddies she re-homed to raise funds for Alzheimer's Society

Caitlin Sullivan, from Rudgwick, was inspired to run the fundraising event after she visited her nan Ethel, who has Alzheimer’s disease. The Teddy Tombola Stall at Rudgwick Day raised money for the charity on Sunday May 1.

Caitlin decided to find loving homes for her teddies by making handmade adoption certificates and decorating each of them with blue ribbon so each of them could be lovingly re-homed in her tombola. The stall she held was at village day, organised by her mum Mel and a team of local volunteers, who said hundreds turned out on the sunny Sunday afternoon.

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Caitlin said: “I came back from visiting nan and was a bit sad as she kept asking the same questions so I wanted to raise £100 for Alzheimer’s Society but have raised £900 now.”

The tombola was such a success that Caitlin had re-homed all of the toys before the day was even over. She continued: “Thank you to everyone that did my teddy tombola it is really appreciated and the teddies even ran out in the end. My favourite part of the day was just all of it, everyone was really nice and some had seen me in the paper last week.”

Caitlin’s fundraising continues to increase and she has raised £1,000 so far. This included £100 raised from an unscheduled auction of one of the largest bears named Ethel after her nan and a £100 donation from the winning tug of war team.

Miss Bowers, headteacher at Rudgwick Primary School said: “We are so very proud of Caitlin and what she has achieved. She worked really hard to prepare the adoption certificates and present each teddy beautifully as well as running the stall all day.

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“It is important now more than ever to increase awareness about dementia and help raise vital funds for Alzheimer’s Society so one day there will be a cure.”

Hannah Miller, community fundraiser for Alzheimer’s Society in West Sussex and Surrey, said: “We are extremely grateful to Caitlin and all the time and energy she put into this tombola for Alzheimer’s Society. As a charity, we rely on the generosity of individuals like Caitlin to help us support people to live well with dementia today and fund research to find a cure for tomorrow”

It’s not too late to sponsor Caitlin. If you would like to sponsor her please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Mel-Sullivan1

From organising a coffee morning to a music concert, there are so many ideas to help raise vital funds, like Caitlin. If you would like to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Society, please contact Community Fundraiser, Hannah Miller by email [email protected] or call 01403 213012.