Tuesday 5 May 2020

Kind-hearted siblings Amy and Thomas Wilson have raised £118 through an online raffle for the Wales Air Ambulance – after reading about the Charity’s emergency appeal.

Fourteen-year-old Ysgol Gyfun Emlyn pupil Amy, and nine-year-old Thomas, who attends Ysgol y Ddwylan, know first-hand how important the lifesaving service is for the people of Wales. Their grandfather, Peter Lewis, was attended by Wales Air Ambulance medics in 2016.

Proud mum Tracey, of Newcastle Emlyn, said: “They wanted to do something to help after reading in the newspaper that donations are down. I am very proud of them wanting to help other people in these times.”

The online raffle, which was priced at £2 a ticket, included two winning prizes of three bottles of wine and an Easter egg.

Around 40 people took part in the raffle and the winning numbers were picked randomly by Alexa, Amazon’s AI technology.

Speaking about their personal reason for fundraising, Tracey said: “Their grandad had a heart attack and without the air ambulance getting him to Swansea quickly, things could have been a lot worse. We were just very lucky to have this service. You don’t really think about it until it happens to you. Now, whenever we see a bucket or a collection tin we always donate.”

Due to the success of the raffle, Amy and Thomas are now trying to raise £50 for the Charity through another online raffle, this time with the chance to win a box of chocolates. The tickets are priced at £1 per ticket.

Their parents Tracey and Alex said they will help them both ‘in any way they can’ if they would like to do more fundraising.

Mark Stevens, South and Mid Wales Fundraising Manager, said: “On behalf of the Wales Air Ambulance Charity, I would like to thank Amy and Thomas for their fantastic fundraising efforts during this difficult time.

“As a Charity, we rely on the public’s incredible generosity to fund our four helicopters across Wales and Amy and Thomas’ very creative and thoughtful contribution will help us to keep our helicopters in the air and provide pioneering critical and emergency medical care across Wales.”

There are several ways that the public can continue to support the Wales Air Ambulance emergency appeal. These include online donations, signing up to the Charity’s Lifesaving Lottery or by coming up with their own innovative ways to fundraise at home – like Amy and Thomas. Further information can be found via www.walesairambulance.com.

Alternatively, a £5 text-message donation can be made by texting the word HELI to 70711.