Over £2.6 Million Raised for Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity Through Micro-Donations

Partnering with Pennies

Since 2011, Pennies has proudly supported Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH Charity) through micro-donations from Pennies merchant partners, including Whitbread, YOTO, and The Entertainer. With over £2.6 million granted to date, these contributions have helped Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) go above and beyond for seriously ill children and their families.

GOSH Charity plays a key role in supporting children and families at GOSH by funding groundbreaking research, cutting-edge medical equipment and child-focused facilities that help save more lives and provide vital support services that help save childhoods, too. GOSH Charity helps to give seriously ill children across the UK the best chance and the best childhood possible.

Small Change, Big Impact

GOSH Charity supports children like Paris. Paris was born prematurely at 24 weeks, weighed less than a pound and was diagnosed with profound deafness. For years, she relied on hearing aids and speech therapy, but her hearing further deteriorated when she was 13. Specialists at GOSH recommended a cochlear implant, and it was through their specialised care that Paris was able to experience sounds she had never heard before.

“My cochlear implants have allowed me to hear things I couldn’t hear before, like birdsong or the pitch on the piano,” Paris says.

She even discovered a new passion: singing. “People have always told me if you’re deaf you can’t sing… but this year, I had singing lessons and found I could sing rhythmic songs from some of my favourite musicals!”

Paris’s hospital experience was also transformed by the opening of the Sound and Sight Centre at GOSH, a facility designed specifically for children with sensory impairments. Her mum, Tricia, describes it as “life-changing”. Reflecting on her own experience growing up with a Deaf brother, Tricia says: “Audiology, listening, and testing is stressful if you are not in the right environment… to have something like the Sight and Sound Centre, you do not know how much it means to us and to other families like ours. It is massive, and it is life-changing for the children of the future with sight and hearing loss.”

Sight and Sound Centre : 

• The GOSH Sight and Sound Centre, is the home for ophthalmology, audiology and ear, nose and throat (ENT) services and speech and language outpatients. When it opened, more than 100 clinicians moved to the state-of-the-art facilities, which include soundproofed booths for hearing tests, an eye imaging suite, a dispensing opticians and other testing facilities.
• The Sight and Sound Centre brought together audiology and ophthalmology outpatient services into one dedicated building. These services represent the largest outpatient group in the hospital.
• There is a sensory garden, with plants that children can enjoy seeing, touching, smelling and listening to, as leaves move in the breeze. There are also bespoke artworks commissioned for children with sensory loss.

Micro-donations are vital and support services that help children like Paris overcome incredible challenges. With over £2.6 million raised through Pennies merchant partners for GOSH Charity, every penny donated makes a tangible difference, helping to make GOSH extraordinary for more children and young people, and their families.

How you can benefit from Pennies

Contact us to become part of the Pennies movement, where every micro-donation can bring hope, transform lives and make a huge difference to the causes you care about most.