£10,000 raised by 'heroic' Lancashire community to help Chorley charity devastated by break-in
and live on Freeview channel 276
Staff and volunteers at Derian House Children’s Hospice were left devastated after discovering burglars had broken into one of their charity shops on Chancery Road in Chorley.
The perpetrators removed slates from the shop roof in order to gain access to the stockroom through the ceiling on Thursday, April 16.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAlthough no high value items were taken, substantial damage was caused to the roof, leaving Derian House with a bill of over £1,000 to repair the damage.
Within hours of the incident going live on social media, the post went viral, with dozens of generous tradespeople offering to help.
Naomi Moazzeny, whose daughter uses the services at Derian House, was one of the many people who helped raise money for Derian House.
The 34-year-old mum from Chorley said: "When I saw the photographs of the damage, I was so annoyed. I don't understand how people can do that.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"They don't realise what our children have to go through day in and day out, and us as families. It's not just a charity shop that they've broken into to get some money from, but they're actually depriving children of the care they need.
"I quickly set up a fundraiser to see whether we could get some money to help, and I honestly didn't expect the response."
In less than 24 hours Naomi had raised over £1,800, and at the time of writing this (April 22), 128 people have made donations, raising a whopping £2,235.
Derian House has now announced more than £10,000 has been collected, and the roof was fixed for free thanks to the "heroic efforts of the community."
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe total raised will allow new security measures to be installed across the hospice’s whole network of charity shops in Leyland, Horwich and Adlington.
It will also pay the wages of two hospice nurses every day for the month of May.
David Robinson, Chief Executive of Derian House Children’s Hospice, said: "We have been completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity shown to us. Yet again our supporters have shown us that they are there when we really need them and for that we are tremendously grateful.
"Not only has the damage been repaired for free, but the support of our community will allow us to make all of our shops safe and secure so that hopefully this will not happen again.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"On top of this gift of peace of mind, we believe there will be enough left over to pay for two nurses to care for our children and young people for the whole month of May. It’s simply amazing that something so good could come from such a horrible situation."
Derian House Children’s Hospice looks after more than 400 children and young people from across the North West, offering respite and end-of-life care.
It costs £4.8m every year to run services at Derian House, with the charity having to raise 90p in every £1 in donations.
If you have any information about the incident, contact police by calling 101, quoting incident reference number 666 of April 16.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAlternatively, independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.To find out more about Derian House Children’s Hospice and the work they do, visit www.derianhouse.co.uk or on social media @derianhouse.