Parents who experience miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death set to get a huge boost in support thanks to £300k of lottery funding
Published: 15:00, 11 June 2015
Updated: 15:49, 11 June 2015
Parents who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death are set to get a huge boost in support thanks to a whopping £317,000 of National Lottery funding.
Kelly Wells set up Making Miracles after she and husband Joe went through huge trauma after their daughter Summer was born with a rare heart condition. Summer pulled through, but the odds were against her.
Making Miracles got charity status last summer and now works to help families through high risk and life-threatening pregnancies and, in the worst cases, the loss of a baby.
This week The Big Lottery fund announced more than a £1 million in funding for community projects – and Making Miracles received £317,451 of it.
Mrs Wells said: “I can not describe how I feel receiving this news. We have all worked very hard to secure this funding and its an absolute honour.
“I just want to thank every supporter and fundraiser that’s helped us to raise awareness and grow, we are very humbled and grateful.”
A stipulation of the funding is that it is to be spent on support services, and not other ongoing projects the charity has such as raising money for a new heart monitor which will pick up on abnormalities while babies are still in the womb.
The money is given out over three years and there are already plans for how it will be spent, including taking on three paid staff positions and inviting bereavement counsellors and volunteer board trustees to join the team.
The charity has also applied for £10,000 through the Aviva community project to finish its memorial garden in St Margaret’s Street, Rochester, which will be the first in Kent.
Sally Howells, the charity company secretary and bid writer added: “We are keen to get these services in place for families in Medway. Medway hospital has provided outstanding medical care in the fetal medicine unit and now Making Miracles can offer the same standard of care on the emotional side.”
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Lizzie Massey