REDDITCH mum Ruth Gillespie will always be in debt to the NHS.
When her six-year-old son Theo suffered an anaphylactic shock he was rushed to Worcestershire Royal Hospital where the team there saved his life.
So when coronavirus broke it seemed only right that the Brockhill resident, who’s sister works in the special baby care unit and who has lots of friends in nursing, should do her bit to help.
So she set to making buttoned headbands so staff wearing face masks wouldn’t have the ties dig into their ears.
But then things started to snowball.
“They said they needed laundry sacks so I put a fundraiser out on social media and I hit the target in the first day alone,” said Ruth.
And the cash continued to pour in.
Ruth enlisted the help of the team from her mum’s business, Kingfisher Blinds and Curtains, to help out.
She was posting parcels of PPE and laundry sacks all over the country, all marked with a rainbow of hope.
“I think I must have bought the job lot of headband material off Amazon,” said Ruth.
“In the end we raised about £4,200 and made roughly 2,000 laundry sacks and headbands and other things too.
“We’ve sent stuff all over the country, to the Isle of Wight, London, Wales, all over.
“I just put an advert on Facebook and we were inundated by hospitals and care homes.
“We’ve had help from sewing groups and the family.
“Eventually we had to stop as it had become a full time job, but I’m so glad we did it.”
