Carlisle Mayor picks out hostel’s raffle winners

(Date of issue: Tuesday, 30 March 2010)

The Mayor of Carlisle, Cllr Bill Graham will make a visit to John Street Hostel tomorrow (Wednesday, 31 March), at 11am, to pick out the winners of a charity Easter raffle.

The Carlisle City Council hostel has organised an Easter Raffle with their residents and will be donating the funds to the Olivia Story Trust - www.oliviastory.co.uk

The local charity was set up in 2006 for Olivia Story, a young Carlisle child, who in the summer of 2006, contracted meningitis which turned into meningococcal septicaemia. She was rushed into hospital, the nurses and doctors didn't think that she would survive - her heart stopped, her kidneys failed and she had a machine breathing for her. They thought she would have brain damage. Her legs and her hands turned black. Olivia battled but it cost her legs and an arm, the staff managed to save one of her hands.

The aim of the trust is to enable the family to pay for the equipment and prosthetics Olivia needs as she gets older.

The annual Easter raffle will be held at John Street Hostel tomorrow (Wednesday). The prizes - Easter Eggs – will be handed out to the winning ticket holders. The Mayor and Mayoress of Carlisle will visit the hostel and will take the opportunity to meet some of the residents.

In addition to the Easter raffle, the hostel also holds other fundraising events such as sponsored events throughout the year for the championed charity Olivia Story Trust and has also donated funding to other local charities including Comic Relief and the Poppy Appeal.