Brightest Star 7 Year Anniversary

If love could have saved you,
You never would have died 💔

That saying and this photo is the reality behind Brightest Star...
A healthy little 5 year old boy who suddenly lost his life to the flu and a heartbroken mum who couldn’t find any support after the loss of her son.

7 years ago on Valentines Day, I launched Brightest Star with the hope of providing support to parents after the loss of a child.
7 years on, we have achieved every aim that we set out and so much more. I really never envisaged how far Brightest Star would grow or how much demand their would be for our services 💔
It’s so sad that families lose son/daughters every single day 💔

I am incredibly proud to say that over the past 7 years, we have raised just over.......

£1 MILLION POUNDS 🌟 🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

All to support families after the loss of a child, grandchild or sibling. And ALL from fundraising, none from government funding.

Thanks to YOUR amazing support and fundraising...

We opened Hulks Haven, a dedicated area where people can come for bereavement support.

We financed a custom built transfer ambulance to allow parents to travel with their critically ill children.

We provided free one to one/couples counselling to bereaved parents, grandparents and siblings, five times per day, three days per week, all year.

We have provided intensive group therapy sessions to bereaved parents.

We have provided play therapy for bereaved children.

We have provided teddy bears to the mortuaries to for children to cuddle when they are in the mortuary.

We provided telephone support and support meetings for bereaved parents.

We distributed thousands of memory boxes to hospitals and bereaved families.

We trained parents and families in Emergency Paediatric first aid.

We donated defibrillators to local communities.

We donated cuddle cots to hospitals to allow families to spend more time with their baby once they have passed away.

We donated covercool systems (adult cuddlecot) hospitals to allow families to spend more time with their toddler, teenager/adult child once they have passed away.

We provided the Glasgow Sick kids with iPads, covers and ipens for children to use when they are receiving treatment.

We provided families who were struggling financially after the loss of their child with school uniforms.

We also provided families who were struggling financially with school uniforms.

We provided families with Christmas presents for their children that they would otherwise not have been able to afford.

We sent 50 families to visit Santa at Hamleys with a £20 to be buy a present from their brother or sister afterwards.

We sent 70 families see Jack and the Beanstalk Pantomine.

We provided the Glasgow Sick kids with 250 colouring in packs to occupy children during treatment.

We provided the Glasgow Sick kids with 80 Christmas parcels for staff working over the festive period.

We are sending over 50 families to see the Lion King the musical in memory of their lion hearted children.

None of this would have been possible without YOU. Be proud of every penny you have raised and every bereaved family that your fundraising has helped.

Every service we provide to bereaved families is funded through the charity as bereaved families are under enough strain without added financial costs. This means that your fundraising is crucial to us. Like every charity, it is becoming more and more difficult to raise funds, there are so many worthy charities out there and everyone has a charity close to their hearts that they fundraise for. If possible, we are asking you to consider supporting Brightest Star in 2020.

Arlene xxx