Member Article

Charlie gets £1k donation from leading housebuilder

A child from Surrey is a step closer to essential wheelchair renovations to his family home after a donation from a leading UK housebuilder.

The Grainger family, who live in Camberley, are attempting to raise £65,000 to help create a wheelchair-friendly home for their six-year-old son Charlie.

Persimmon Homes Thames Valley has selected Charlie’s cause to receive a £1,000 donation as a part of its Community Champions initiative, which seeks to support local groups and charities working to improve the quality of life or environment for the community.

The scheme invites local groups and charities to bid for cash from a £750,000 national fund, with two donations of up to £1,000 being made locally each month.

Charlie was born 10 weeks early, weighing just 2lbs, and has been diagnosed with quadriplegic cerebral palsy. The essential adaptations to the Grainger family home will see a range of features installed to help Charlie become more independent.

Laura Grainger, Charlie’s mother, said: “In 2013 we fundraised to be able to take Charlie to America for an operation that removes the spasticity from the legs and would give him the best chance of getting out of his wheelchair.

“With having this surgery comes the commitment to fundraise £10,000 a year for intensive physiotherapy.

“Charlie is doing really well, but it’s fair to say that he will always struggle with stairs. With this in mind, we decided to add a range of renovations to our house including a downstairs bedroom, wet room and ramp into the house.

“Persimmon’s generous donation will be put towards these renovations and the money truly means an enormous amount to us.”

Rachel Faulkner, head of sales at Persimmon Homes Thames Valley, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Charlie’s cause. We were all touched by his story and the hard work his family are putting in to help improve his life.

“Persimmon Homes Thames Valley has had a fantastic response to its Community Champions scheme and it is always a tricky task to pick our winners each month.

“If applicants were unsuccessful last month, we urge them to visit the Persimmon Homes website and to try again and hopefully they will become our next Community Champion.”

Community groups, charities and good causes across the region have benefitted thanks to the donations from Persimmon Homes. Organisations can apply for funding by completing a simple online form at www.persimmonhomes.com/charity

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ross Watson .