Coffee cash to fund activities for disabled children

A community group in Alsager is hoping to encourage some new faces at their weekly coffee morning in a bid to increase the amount of money they are raising for disabled children.

Wesley Place Methodist Church, in Lawton Road, has been supporting Action for Children, the charity who run Staffordshire Shared Care, in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, for two decades. 

Their Saturday coffee mornings have been running for 15 years and have helped the church to raise in the region of £30,000 for Action for Children in total.

In February, stalwart fundraisers and initial organisers of the coffee mornings, Ted and Mary Timperley, sadly passed away within weeks of each other. And now the organisers are calling on the local community to get involved  as they increase their efforts to raise the money needed to purchase a new mini bus and to convert space at Staffordshire Shared Care's premises into a  sensory room.

Elizabeth Morris, from Wesley Place Methodist Church, said: "We hope to pay tribute to Ted and Mary's wonderful work by ensuring their legacy lives on so we're keen to extend a warm welcome to the community in Alsager. Come and join us on Saturday mornings for a relaxed and inexpensive respite from a busy shopping expedition."

Staffordshire Shared Care provides residential care, after school clubs and a range of leisure activities in the community for disabled children and young people from across the county, giving them the opportunity to enjoy and experience time away from home, have fun and make new friends in a safe environment. 

Barbara Greaves, Action for Children project manager at Staffordshire Shared Care, said: "The aim of our service is to provide a variety of opportunities for the young people who come to us and also offer their families a much-needed break from the demanding and sometimes quite challenging caring duties they perform for their children.

"We are really grateful for the support of Wesley Place Methodist Church. We are fundraising for a new mini bus - which will enable us to take our groups out more easily and with less cost - and for a sensory room, which would offer interactive and stimulating experiences for even the most profoundly disabled. These are obviously both very expensive and the dedication of our supporters at the church is a fantastic boost to our cause."

Both of the service's fundraising efforts can also be supported online via Action for Children's innovative website. Here people can pledge as little as £2 towards the target and keep an eye on progress.