When the worst happens it brings out the very best in people, and one 11-year-old girl from Milton Keynes has become a super-powered fundraiser!
Bianca-Jade Bartlett-Richards tragically lost her Aunt to a stroke in 2015. Then, in a cruel twist of fate, her Uncle had two strokes within weeks.
“We rushed to South Africa to see him as it was touch and go,” Bianca-Jade recalls.
“I saw how he struggles everyday as he is paralysed on his left side. He was such an active person before...”
Keen to make a difference, Bianca-Jade contacted the Milton Keynes-based Different Strokes charity with a view to fundraising with them.
“...they were reluctant at first, because of my age. I begged fundraising manager Jo Aurora to do one event and if it was a success I wanted to have a target to raise £1000. She agreed. So I called the longest zip line in Europe and they agreed to sponsor me and I raised over £200.”
Busy-bee Bianca-Jade is the youngest volunteer for the charity.
Fundraising aside, she also has to juggle secondary school with her other 'job' entertaining with her voice – in the evenings she hits the stage performing, or can be found in the studio.
“I try and tell everyone about my charity wherever I am,” she says, “I always take my buckets with me and people are always so generous and drop some change in.”
Aside from tackling the zip line, she has rock climbed, sky dived, and swam with Great White Sharks in Gansbaai, in a cage in the sea – the youngest person to do so!
She's determined and fearless, is our Bianca!
So far she has raised more than £700 of her £1000 target, and she hopes to hit that total before December 31, 2016.
And in order to swell the funds some more, she wants to return to swim with the sharks again, and hopes to sing in the West End. Judging by her achievements to date, she'll achieve both.
In the short-term, Bianca will be at Tesco Kingston between December 20 and 24, packing shopping bags with her friends and hoping to bag more cash for the cause.
“I will be singing, dressing up and packing bags. Small change all adds up and every penny counts believe me. Please come and support me and if you cannot spare a penny why not help me pack bags?” she asks.
“The more people we have, the more money we can raise.”
Bianca's zest for fundraising is incredible, and no-one is more proud than her parents.
“What she has accomplished in her 11 years is far beyond her age,” says her mother, Mandy.
“Her Dad and I are so proud of all her achievements from singing, acting and all her fundraising. “She also works hard at school and got an amazing school report. Nothing is ever to much for Bianca, she is always helping others and not thinking about herself.
“She always has a smile on her face and is so confident and positive about everything. She has an amazing sense of humour and makes us laugh all the time. Everyone she meets fall in love with her and she is very persuasive when it comes to her fundraising.”
You can help swell Bianca's fundraising total by clicking: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/BiancaJadeBartlettRichards
