Micro-donations at ASK Italian help Great Ormond Street Hospital build for the future

When a child is in hospital, they can be away from home for weeks, even months, at a time. That’s why making sure they have a place to recover that is stimulating, fun and friendly is as important as making sure they receive the highest-level of medical care possible.

Improving facilities, and in turn improving lives, is just what charities like Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSHCC) are working to achieve, and what retailers like ASK Italian are helping support.

Since Pennies was introduced in ASK Italian restaurants just over 5 months ago, customers dining at branches up and down the country have raised an extraordinary £24,000 for GOSHCC, just 20p at a time.

These pennies are being put to great use, helping to fund the building of the kitchens, dining rooms and play rooms of the hospital’s new Surgery Centre, due to open in 2017 as part of the The Mittal Children’s Medical Centre.

The hospital’s redevelopment plans are crucial, not only for maintaining the facilities to provide world-class care, but for improving the livelihoods of children too. Jilly Hale, Head of Surgical Nursing at GOSH, said, “We know that a child friendly environment, with their family close at hand, reduces a child’s anxiety and speeds their recovery.”

Around 8,500 micro-donations are made via Pennies at ASK Italian restaurants every week. This money not only provides the charity with an incredibly valuable regular stream of income, but acts as a base from which ASK Italian can build lots of other fundraising activities too.

ASK Italian is one of two charity partners working to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity via Pennies. The Entertainer toy shops have also been raising funds for the charity since 2011, and to date GOSHCC has received over £88,000 thanks to the generosity of customers giving their spare electronic change at these two Pennies retailers.