Kind fund-raiser passes on Christmas gifts to children at Sunderland Royal Hospital

Youngsters on Sunderland Royal Hospital’s paediatric wards have been given toys and gifts following a donation from fund-raiser Emma Olsen.

Emma, from Grindon, makes it her annual mission to call for donations to put a smile of the faces of poorly children.

Gifts were donated by Emma following a fund-raising drive earlier this year.

It is now the fourth year that she has carried out the appeal.

Speaking to the Echo, Emma, 32, said: “It’s something I’ve carried on myself after I started doing this four years ago.

“The children and their parents were fantastic.

“They’re over the moon that they’ve been given toys.

“I usually start planning this in August and September to give myself a head start, but I’ve already got a visit to the hospital at Easter booked in as well.

“It’s just great to see smiles on the children’s faces at this time of year, especially kids who have a difficult time of it.

“When you see how much it means to them, it makes it 100% worth it.”

Among those who contributed were Barnes Junior School, who held a Christmas jumper day as well as Emma’s friend Mandy Heron, who works for the NHS in Newcastle.

Emma held a Halloween party in October at which further money was raised to go towards buying gifts for the appeal.

“There were a lot of children in and thankfully everyone of them was given a gift,” added Emma, who works for Parseq at Doxford Park.

“We even went over to the Niall Quinn Children’s Centre to hand out more presents.

“It’s been another great year and I can’t wait to do it all again.”