Palsy child’s mum slams charity choice
THE mother of a boy with cerebral palsy has accused a shop of putting distant animals ahead of local children after it chose a charity to support next year.
Lee-Ann Harker was outraged when she found the Original Factory Shop in Crook will raise money for Stray Aid in Coxhoe rather than Heel and Toe which helps educate children with cerebral palsy and dyspraxia.
Her son Max, who lives in Oakenshaw, uses the charity based in Spennymoor and Lee-Ann said it relies solely on donations.
Stray Aid is a charity which takes in stray animals and, if their owners aren’t found, attempts to find the dogs and cats new loving homes.
Lee-Ann said: “There are 30 children from all over who use Heel and Toe and for them it is vital. I couldn’t believe the shop would be raising money for an animal charity in Coxhoe when this is closer
“As the mother of an ill child I find it very insulting that they think animals are more worthy of support than children. I think it’s appalling and I think people will be disgusted when they know about it.
“Also, the factory shop is closer to us than it is to the other charity, to me we are the local charity.”
The Original Factory Shop advertised for charities two months ago and according to marketing director Colin Leggatt they were swamped with requests. The store has pledged to raise at least £500 for its chosen charity over the next 12 months.
He said: “We had hundreds of requests for our 130 stores and each was as deserving as the other. We used to get many requests to sponsor events, donate prizes or show support and we always tried to do as much as we could.
“We decided it would be simpler to have one main charity for each store and rather than going for national or global charities we decided to support charities benefitting locals.
“Every charity is equally deserving and we wanted to help make a difference.
“I think it’s unfair for people to say we are putting animals over children, each case was looked at on its own merits. I have exchanged a number of emails with the lady and have offered her our help in other ways such as donating prizes and that offer is still open.
“We never wanted to upset anybody, we just wanted to help yet we are being persecuted for it.
“This charity is no worse off than before and we will still help them when we can.”