A TRADITIONAL sweet shop in Bangor has raised almost £1,600 for the Children’s Hospice in memory of a late relative.
Jacqueline McKeown, who owns the Curious Candy shop, helped raise a total of £1589.66 for the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice in just a week.
She and her husband, Glenn, raised the money for the Hospice in memory of Rebecca McKeown, Glenn’s sister, who unfortunately passed away in 2001.
The funds were raised in diverse and unique methods, including a friend of the family who was sponsored to hold a lollypop which was 900 times hotter than a jalapeno chilli in his mouth for five minutes.
The couple also held a raffle which included among the prizes, were bottles of the latest soft drink – Prime – which is so popular it has been selling at up to £100 a bottle. They also had cups designed and provided by Coco’s Hobby Lobby and Easter eggs donated by people who had to make use of the care provided by the Hospice service.
“The majority of the money we got from raffling the bottles of Prime which is the sought after drink right now. We had 16 bottles that we had purchased and we raffled them off for £1 a ticket,” said Jacqueline.
Jacqueline detailed how a number of people in the community pulled together to donate to their efforts.
“Coco’s Hobby Lobby donated cups with ‘Prime’ down the side, That Prize Guy, from Bangor, donated £250 to the charity and a £100 cash prize for the winners, then we put in five, £10 gift vouchers,” she explained.
Believing they would only raise £500, the Bangor woman was amazed that they raised three times the amount for the Hospice.
“I think it was phenomenal for only a week. There were well over 900 ballot tickets sold and the rest of the money was made up with the collection bucket on the counter.
Jacqueline said the Hospice was immensely grateful for the money. “We want to just thank everybody for their continued support towards us as a shop and towards our charity,” added Jacqueline.
Welcoming the generous donations and efforts, interim Hospice Director, Lauren Doherty, said the sum would be enough to provide a child with a day of specialist care.
“We’re so grateful to Jacqueline for her generosity and for everyone who took part in her raffle,” said Ms Doherty.”These are very tough times for the Hospice with rising costs and we are struggling to bring in the funding that we need every year.
“Jacqueline has raised enough money to provide more than 24 hours of specialist care for a child in Horizon House, our dedicated children’s Hospice,” she added.
