A north-east couple fundraising activities for local charities has topped £10,000 in just four weeks.
Rona Mennie and her partner John Silbergh first attempted to show their support for the NHS and Fraserburgh Hospital in particular.
Within hours, hundreds had been donated and the total eventually rose to more than £4,000.
Buoyed by that success and determined “to do so much more for charity” the Broch couple set up the “Win it by R.J.R” Facebook group.
Since the group was created on April 20, more than 3,000 people from Fraserburgh and the surrounding area have joined.
In addition to offering a range of fundraising games, polls are taken on which local charities members would like to support.
Already Willows Animal Sanctuary, the Salvation Army and Shirely’s Space have benefited from donations.
Miss Mennie said: “All the charities we’ve supported so far have been so grateful and totally blown away by the support they’ve received from their local communities.
“We do raffles with a random number generator used to determine winners as well as games like “deal or no deal” and free cash drops.
“I’ve had a lot of positive feedback from people saying they look forward to the posts on the page and that it’s the highlight of their day.”
The couple now want to use the page to help raise £5,000 or more to help Joleen Ritchie, a friend of Miss Mennie’s from Fraserburgh.
The 39-year-old mum-of-four was struck down by a horrific case of sepsis and, having had her legs amputate, will undergo an operation this week to amputate her hands.
She slipped into a coma as her condition worsened and even battled coronavirus in hospital while awaiting the second operation.
A fundraising page, ‘Weʼre raising £30,000 to help get a robotic hand for Joleen Ritchie and any other medical aids that may be needed’ has been created at justgiving.com to help pay for a robotic hand and other medical expenses.
It initially had a £15,000 target but swiftly topped that sum and a larger target of £30,000 is now being sought.
Speaking to the Press and Journal last week, Miss Ritchie said: “I’m not the kind of person to give up, I’ve still got a lot of my life to live.”
She revealed “I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it” but now, feeling “slightly better”, she is determined to make a recover.
“Just eight weeks ago, I was still getting hoisted out of bed, so I have come a a long way,” Miss Ritchie said.
