Mum and daughter raise over £1200 for Liverpool hospital

Through the sale of homemade crochet rainbows, the pair from Merseyside raised over £1200 for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

During this time of crisis, rainbows have come to symbolise hope with many people across the UK finding several creative ways to show that there is light to follow after these dark times.

Some people have been selling their creative rainbows to raise money for charity, specifically for nurses and doctors who have been on the frontline battling coronavirus.

Abi Halligan, 29, from Kirkby, decided to follow suit after one of her friends requested a crochet rainbow from her.

After her friend shared the rainbow on Facebook, Abi said the requests “exploded” from there.

With the help of her daughter Isla, 9, the pair set up a box outside their home containing 10 rainbows, encouraging people to help themselves. By the end of the day, all the rainbows had gone.

“I wasn’t initially taking anything for them, I was just asking that people maybe donate to the NHS or take food to the local food bank,” Abi told Oh My Goodness.

That’s when one of Abi’s friends suggested setting up a JustGiving page.

Abi decided she wanted to help raise money for staff at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital who particularly mean a lot to her and her family for the care they offered to her daughter, Isla, and nephew, Arthur.

The hospital helped to treat Isla for multiple injuries, including a chipped hip and broken chest, that she suffered from a car accident.

Arthur, who had to spend the first seven months of his life with a stoma bag, was also treated at the hospital for Hirschsprung Disease.

Abi said: “They had both spent considerable amounts of time in Alder Hey and I wanted to give something back.

“Alder Hey have saved both of the children and we will forever be indebted to them.”

Through the help of her friend Suzanne, and donation of wool, Abi’s remarkable fundraising efforts took off.

Abi said the hospital didn’t know that the money had been raised for them as she tried to keep her fundraising efforts quiet.

“I generally don’t like to broadcast it to be honest, I like to just do what I’m doing and that’s it,” she said.

Despite an initial target of £200, in total the pair helped to raise an incredible £1215, all of which went to the children’s hospital.

The teacher by day said the overall response had been “overwhelming” with people from all over the country messaging her for rainbows and people even nominating her for company giveaways on social media.

Abi is thankful for the “amazing” response to her wool pleas. On one morning she opened her front door to two bin bags of wool from an anonymous donor.

“The nicest thing of all was people coming to collect their rainbows and passing in little gifts for Isla, like jellies or bath bombs or chocolates, it’s just lovely. I didn’t do it for things like that, but it was lovely,” she said.

Through the separate sale of crochet flowers and hearts, Abi also raised £350 for Acorn Farm, but the Kirkby resident says her efforts are not stopping there.

She added: “I have a few little Christmas projects that I’m thinking of for a few various charities, but [we] will have to wait and see what they are.”

If you would like to continue to support this amazing cause, you can visit Abi’s JustGiving page here.

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