Military family in Aldershot raises over £700 for children's charity
Adam has served in the British Army for 15 years and the family have regularly used the charity's resources.
Christy Bailey, her husband Adam and their daughters Grace, 14, and Evie, 11, on a fundraising challenge in February 2022
A military family from Aldershot, Hampshire has raised over £700 for a children's charity by doing a walk, cycle or swim together every day in February.
In total, £725 was raised after Christy Bailey, her husband Adam, and their daughters Grace, 14, and Evie, 11, completed the daily challenge and collectively travelled 60 miles over the four weeks.
The funds will support children's charity Little Troopers to continue its work supporting more than 100,000 children who have parents serving in the British Armed Forces.
Christy said: “It’s been more challenging than we expected, especially with the bad weather. We also realised the girls have lost the confidence to swim because they haven’t been regularly during the pandemic, so we have been seeing a friend who is a swim instructor and has helped them relearn the right moves and regain their confidence.
“Walking has definitely been their favourite option as they can pick and choose their pace. They both started to get a bit grumpy about halfway through the challenge but as soon as I reminded them why we were doing it and how much we’d raised it put a spring back in their step. We are all on cloud nine to have raised £725 and we are extremely proud of the girls.”
The family chose to fundraise for Little Troopers for it’s fundraise February campaign as Adam has served in the British Army for 15 years and the family have regularly used Little Troopers's resources to support Grace and Evie during deployments, house moves, and at other times when the girls have found military life challenging.
Christy added: “Little Troopers has been a part of our daughters lives for as long as they can remember. We have used lots of the charity’s resources including the separation pack, the letter packs for when we moved home and the girls struggled, certificates, arts and crafts resources and much more.
"The charity has helped the girls to take pride in being military children and helped them through more challenging times such as when Adam has been deployed overseas. Even now, they are always so grateful to the charity for its continuous support and the resources it offers.”
Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers, said: “Well done to the Baileys who have done incredibly well with this difficult challenge during a very stormy month.
"We want to say a huge thank you to them and all the fundraisers who have supported our Fundraise February campaign.
"Little Troopers is a small charity with a big heart and it’s thanks to their support that we can continue to provide support to all the children in our British Armed Forces community, whenever they need it and wherever they are in the world.”
Little Troopers has a number of resources that parents can use to support children at home including the Little Troopers Treasures story recording app for military parents to record themselves reading stories for their children to watch while they are away.
The charity also runs a school programme which provides specialist resources, courses and workshops for teachers and service children in school. More information can be found on the charity's website: www.littletroopers.net
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