Barclay Communications will fund The Northern Ireland Children to Lapland and Days to Remember Trust’s festive initiative which will replace its annual trip to Lapland
A Northern Ireland businessman has donated £20,000 to fund a festive initiative for those living with life limiting and life-threatening conditions.
Britt Megahey, Founder and Managing Director of Belfast headquartered Barclay Communications, was moved when he read recent local press articles about the Northern Ireland Children to Lapland and Days to Remember Trust’s decision to cancel its annual flight to see Santa in Rovaniemi, the official hometown of Santa Claus on the Arctic Circle in Lapland, Finland, because of Covid-19.
The charity, which has taken over 1200 ill and vulnerable NI children to Lapland over the past 12 years, vowed to ‘keep the magic alive’ this Christmas despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, it decided to swap air miles for groundwork replacing its traditional annual flight to Lapland to visit the Big Man himself, with a new, temporary initiative called “Three Steps To Christmas’”.
The campaign will call on local health trusts to nominate 100 very special terminally ill, life-limited or deserving children from all over Northern Ireland to receive some extra special Christmas presents from the charity while their siblings can join in the festivities as they too receive a smaller gift.
Each child will receive gifts to the value of £200, chosen by his or her parents, as well as a detailed and touching personal letter from Santa. This will be followed up by a video greeting from the man himself, from his home in Lapland, with his trusty elves, huskies and reindeer by his side.
The chosen gifts will be delivered right to each child’s doorstep, just before Christmas and, if Covid regulations allow, some of Santa’s elves will be there to help with the deliveries
Learning of the project, Britt Megahey was so moved he decided to fund the entire initiative to support the charity’s tireless work.
Britt said: “Barclay Communications has been at the forefront of business-to-business mobile, hosted and fixed-line telecoms for more than 20 years. As a telecommunications firm, we have seen a significant increase in the uptake of our products and services due to the increasing demand for remote working, however, our growth has been bittersweet. While we have welcomed new business, we have been well aware that other sectors are struggling, with charities taking a massive hit.
“We have always admired the work that the Northern Ireland Children to Lapland and Days to Remember Trust does and to hear they couldn’t fulfil their annual commitment of taking more than 100 vulnerable children to Lapland and how their hard efforts to raise funds had been met with many challenges, we wanted to do what we could to help.
“Children have been impacted drastically by the Covid-19 pandemic. Their social and sporting activities have been halted, they lost months of education and for those children with vulnerabilities their lives have taken a greater hit and we feel we have an obligation to give back to those who need it most and at a time when children should be enjoying what should be the most magical time of the year.”
Northern Ireland Children to Lapland and Days to Remember Trust’s (NICLT) Chair Colin Barkley, said:
“It’s hard to believe that our hopes and dreams at the turn of this new decade have been put on hold due to circumstances that no-one could have ever predicted and as Covid-19 played havoc with how we work, live and play, we at the Northern Ireland Children to Lapland and Days to Remember Trust were regrettably forced to make tough decisions that have seen us postpone many of our much-loved annual events.
“While these are difficult and unprecedented times, we can’t and won’t allow the magic of Christmas to be diminished for these wonderful children which is why we created the Three Steps to Christmas campaign. To have that funded by Barclay Communications is a real gift for us because, like all charities, our fundraising efforts have been restricted.
“This generous donation from Britt Megahey will fund those 100 gifts that will go to some of Northern Ireland’s most special children. It will allow us to bring the magic of Christmas to these children without the pressure of wondering how we will fund our next endeavour.
“We want to thank Barclay Communications for giving these children the magic of Christmas during one of the toughest years we have experienced in our living history and we can’t wait to see the smiles on their faces.”
Gerry Kelly, President NICLT, added: “The Northern Ireland Children to Lapland and Days to Remember Trust receives no Government or Lottery funding and is totally self-funded, relying on the generosity of individuals and companies across NI who very much identify with our aims and with the type of children we support.
“Their support once again this year has been amazing and, combined with Barclay Communications’ magnificent gesture, allows us to start making ambitious plans for 2021. If circumstances allow, we are hoping to take an even larger group than originally anticipated to Disneyland in Paris as well as our annual trip to Lapland!”
