Aston Villa launch £2m hospice campaign

Sep 23 2008

PREMIER League football team Aston Villa have launched a £2m fundraising campaign to help sick children in the West Midlands.

Acorns Children's Hospice hopes to raise enough money to care for 300 "life-limited" children and their families at home rather than have them travel to the hospice.

Danish centre-back Martin Laursen and midfielder Ashley Young joined seven-year-old Acorns' patient Luke Webster at Birmingham's Mailbox shopping centre to publicise the Christmas appeal.

Dressed in a Villa shirt, Luke, who has a condition known as Alternating Hemiplegia of the Child, sat with the players in a sleigh pulled by two reindeers.

The campaign was launched in partnership with retailer Harvey Nichols.

Laursen said: "It is a wonderful partnership. It is nicely done by Aston Villa to have this charity on our shirts for this season. It's a great thing.

"A lot of families have a lot of problems with their sick children. If we can help in any way to bring in some money for the hospice then that's great."

Speaking about the Luke's Appeal For Acorns At Home, David Strudley, chief executive of Acorns, said: "What this is doing is giving us the opportunity to take the nursing care out there into their homes.

"It's a really big step for us. A lot of children and their mums and dads do find coming into the hospice a bit daunting."