Most evenings Hubby and I are busy little bees doing one thing or another, last night I was busy making 60+ pairs of earrings whilst Hubby was counting beads for me. As we sit there doing our chores we have the TV playing in the background with some mindless programme or another. We love to watch comedians, it makes you feel good to laugh and one of our favourites is Russell Howard’s Good News. He makes light of events from the news in the previous week and at the end of the show always finishes with a story about someone truly heart-warming. There is no ‘mickey-taking’ involved here, he just likes to highlight someone special and they usually tug on your heartstrings somewhere. Last night’s ‘good story’ struck a chord with me and I want to share it with everyone else out there who perhaps did not see Russell Howard because I think you will like this story . . .
This is Vikki, she is 26 and she lives in England with her family. She has been ill on and off since she was a young child and for the past 7 years has been bedbound with severe ME. For 5 years she wasn’t able to walk or sit up but she has now improved a little and can go out of the house in a wheelchair every now and then. Sadly over time, her friends slipped by the wayside and she became lonely being trapped in her bed. At the start of her time refined to her bed she received many cards and letters which covered her walls and ceilings, they became her reason to wake up each day.
From here a seed of an idea grew within Vikki and she created PostPals which she runs from her bed on her laptop. She has family and volunteers who help to run the charity which is making a huge difference to the lives of seriously ill children and their families all around the world.
Vikki’s site has won a plethora of awards and recognitions, she won Reader’s Digest Hero of the Year 2006 and Beacon Award for Young Philanthropist 2008. Radio 1 DJ Fearne Cotton became a patron of PostPals in September 2007 after she presented them with an award Favourite Lottery Funded Project South East 2006.
You can help too, all you need to do is visit the website and read through the profiles of all the poorly children who would just love to receive a little something to make them smile. I should warn you though, you may need to have a box of tissues at the ready as I guarantee you will read them and weep!
Come on blogosphere, we help with so many wonderful charities by promoting what we can, let’s do some more for these children. Let’s help Vikki to raise awareness of PostPals and put smiles on those children’s faces!! Spread the word . . .