New look Rotary Wishing Well
Published: Thursday, 24 November 2011
New look Rotary Wishing Well
The Rotary Club of Fareham unveiled its new look charity Wishing Well near to Burger King in Fareham Shopping Centre on Thursday 1st December in the presence of the Mayor Councillor Trevor Cartwright MBE and the Mayoress Mrs Ruth Cartwright.
The much admired Wishing Well has been in position within the Centre for four years and was specially built from funding provided by members of the Club committed to raising the profile of the work of Rotary in the community. Already the Well has raised over £5,000 for Rotary causes, from local individual beneficiaries, the regional Hampshire Air Ambulance to the world-wide End Polio Now campaign - while at the same time providing a fun ‘make a wish’ element for shoppers and visitors to the Shopping Centre.
The Club’s new strategy is to nominate a principal beneficiary of public donations through the Well for each season whilst also ensuring support to a variety of charities in the process. The first beneficiary through Christmas will be Fareham’s The Rainbow Centre, inspiring and supporting children with Cerebral Palsy and adults suffering from strokes, MS or Parkinson’s disease together with their families through a system of learning called Conductive Education.
Rotary President Linda Ingram said: “We invite shoppers to spin a coin, make a wish and help a child when they pass by. The important message is that there are no deductions from charity donations – every penny gets there.”
Fareham Shopping Centre’s Pam Marsden, Centre Director, said: “It’s a simple but effective request to our shoppers, to put their loose change into the Wishing Well when passing by – and look what good it does!”
Helen Somerset How, Co-Founder of The Rainbow Centre, said that she was delighted to know Rotary was working with Fareham Shopping Centre to raise funding for them this way.
