Derbyshire-based metal and waste recycling specialist, Ward, has supported a campaign to raise funds for a local hospice which provides essential respite for a member of the Ward team and their family.
Min Bawa, senior transport manager at Ward, has two children, Aveena and Nevaiah, who were both born prematurely. Aveena has Cerebral Palsy and a brain injury from a bleed at birth. She only has one kidney and as she outgrows that, she will need a transplant. Nevaiah was starved of oxygen at birth due to complications, which means she has a brain injury.
Looking after them both is difficult and the family use the facilities at Rainbows to access respite care to give them long weekends away from time to time, as well as emotional support. Rainbows provides a safe place where they know their children can be cared for as all the staff are well trained to help.
During the height of Covid, Rainbows stepped up for Min as the existing care package from the council just collapsed and it was quite a stressful time as Aveena was admitted into hospital fighting for her life.
As part of Diwali, the festival of light, Min’s wife, Armandeep, began a campaign to raise money for Rainbows Hospice through Just Giving, achieving local press coverage to try and reach an initial target of £1,500.
Being a proud family business, Min’s story was shared among the Ward team and many members of the extended family backed the campaign, helping them exceed the fundraising target.
Min Bawa, senior transport manager at Ward, said: “On behalf of myself and my whole family, we want to extend a huge thank you from us all for the support and donations to my wife Aman’s Diwali fundraising campaign for Rainbows Hospice.
“The work that they do supports families across the East Midlands with all kinds of essential care. It provides one place for our family to have a complete rest, with the peace of mind that our daughter is 100% safe, happy and her needs are fully cared for.”
A happy coincidence also occurred when one of the Ward team was announced as the winner of a charity prize draw courtesy of Qualitech Environmental Services at an industry trade show.
As Qualitech Environmental Services director, Matt Dodd, explains: “We attended the RWM show at Birmingham NEC earlier in the year and instead of providing marketing giveaways our firm decided to donate £5,000 to charity through a business card draw at our exhibition stand.
“We thought that instead of giving out things with our logo on we would use the marketing budget for good causes and split it into one £3,000 and two £1,000 prizes. We’ve previously supported Claire House Children’s Hospice North West and we do a lot of work to support different causes and this gave us the chance to extend the opportunity to those attending the event.”
Qualitech’s top prize of £3,000 was won by Heather Foo, head of purchasing (Metals) at Ward, and she was keen to connect with the Bawa’s campaign for Rainbows, saying: “It was perfect timing. Min and his wife’s Diwali campaign for Rainbows was running when I found out I’d been selected for the very generous charity prize from Qualitech. It’s been so great to give their fundraising efforts an additional boost.”
Rainbows, based in Loughborough, provides support and care to more than 300 families from the East Midlands. It requires over £6million a year to run and gets less than 15% funding from the government, so it totally relies on the generosity of fundraisers and donations.
Hayley Purser, corporate partnerships fundraiser at Rainbows, said: “This is a fantastic donation to date of £4,711 and incredibly important to Rainbows to enable us to continue providing the vital care that we do to so many babies, children, young people and their families. We are so grateful to Min and his family, Ward and Qualitech for combining their fundraising activities and supporting Rainbows in this way.”
