10k run nets Â£640 for Grace House

Grace House's Karen Maclennan, centre, and Christopher Lowden, receive Â£320 from runner Mark Wrightson, left, who took part in the Sunderland 10k.

Mark Wrightson, who works for Santander, mentioned to his friend Chris Sopp, of car dealership Town Centre Citroen in Sunderland, whilst the pair were at the Stadium of Light that he was taking part in the Sunderland 10k event.

Chris asked if he was raising money for charity and when Mark said that he hadn’t thought about it Chris suggested raising money for Grace House and that he would be his first sponsor.

In less than a week Mark had raised £320 and his employer said they would match his fundraising taking the donation up to £640.

Mark, who works in Newcastle, said: “I hadn’t really thought about raising any money and thought that maybe I had left it too late however after chatting to Chris thought I’d see what I could do.

“Grace House are local and their short break facility is in the heart of Sunderland and I’d like to thank everyone for their support.”

Karen Maclennan, senior fundraiser at Grace House said: “Mark got in touch with only days to the event so he has done extremely well to raise as much as he has in such a short space of time.

“Thank you to everyone who has donated especially Santander Bank who has doubled his donation.

“We have such an exciting year planned here at Grace House so Mark’s donation will really help make our children’s short stay here truly special.”

Grace House, in Southwick offers short-break care to severely disabled children and young people from all over the North East.

Run in partnership with Sunderland Care and Support, the facility provides a home from home where children and young people can come and stay overnight and enjoy the exciting ‘sleep-over’ experience that many disabled children miss out on.

This gives family members an opportunity to have a rest and recharge their batteries, safe in the knowledge that their disabled child is safe, happy and well looked after.

More information on Grace House can be found on their website www.gracehouse.co.uk or by telephoning their fund-raising office on 525 2885 or care team on 597 9191.