'Brick' on the wall call as Archie Foundation aims to build on scheme to raise funds for Highland Children’s Unit at Raigmore Hospital

ORGANISATIONS and individuals are being urged to sponsor a “brick” in a wall of support on the Highland Children’s Unit at Raigmore Hospital.

The venture is to raise vital funds for the charity, the Archie Foundation, which supports sick children and their families.

The bricks, which contain the sponsor’s name, cost £100 each and will be showcased with the others on display.

Karen Mangan, recently-appointed Highlands regional fundraising officer for the Archie Foundation, had hoped to sell 110 bricks in the final weeks of 2021 to help mark the 10th anniversary of the charity working in the region.

Although a broad range of businesses, clubs and individuals took up the idea, not all the bricks have sold yet.

Undaunted she is starting 2022 determined to sell the remaining ones.

“It is definitely something we are going to keep working on,” she said.

“We are staying positive.

“It is about raising awareness as well as funds.”

The foundation has seen a surge of applications to its emergency grants fund from cash-strapped families, on top of a huge increase in grants during 2021 because of the pandemic. It can involve providing help to people with children in the ward, who often travel significant distances, need clothes, accommodation for overnight stays, food and toiletries.

The Archie Foundation first came to the region in March 2011 when it linked up with HN sister paper the Inverness Courier to raise funds to refurbish the children’s ward.

Thanks to public support, it delivered a more ambitious project with the opening of the Highland Children’s Unit in 2016.

Email highlands@archie.org for more information.

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