HOMELESS families in Rhyl will be treated to special days out after free tickets to fun-filled activities were bought for them.
Richard Kendrick, a prominent fundraiser in the town, used the money he received from his charity “sleepouts” last month to buy tickets to Geronimo’s Adventure Playzone and Lazer Zone, on West Parade.
More than 50 of those tickets were then donated to children and families in Rhyl helped by Big Help Project, a homelessness charity for whom Richard works.
A further 24 were given to Blossom & Bloom, a charity in Rhyl dedicated to supporting homeless and vulnerable mothers.
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Richard said he will be donating more tickets to Denbighshire Flying Start, a Welsh Government-funded programme helping children have the best possible start in life for their future growth and development.
He said: “HB Leisure gave me about £600-700 worth of tickets, which worked out at about 250 Geronimo’s tickets, and roughly 50-60 for Lazer Zone.
“I’ll be visiting all of the homeless shelters, and working with the Denbighshire homeless officers, so they will phone me up, say who needs what, and I’ll pass them over to them.
“It’s to help the mental health of the children. You’ve got families all living in one room in hotels and B&Bs, so they can all get out for a few hours, or for a day.
“We’re going to buy other things during the other year, and will raise money again to buy tickets for SC2 (water park), or the Vue cinema.
“There will be a lot more families in temporary accommodation this year, because of more Section 21 (old eviction notices) being issued last year.
“Landlords are getting out, which is leaving a lot more people homeless.”
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Blossom & Bloom added: “(A) thank you from Blossom & Bloom for the donation.
“We will ensure they are distributed to our families to enable them to have a low-cost, fun afternoon as a family.”
Richard raised thousands as he slept rough every night for a week across North Wales last month.
He was taking part in Royal British Legion Industries’ (RBLI) “Great Tommy Sleep Out”, where fundraisers sleep rough in aid of the roughly 6,000 military veterans living on the streets in the UK.
That followed Richard completing his role as Rhyl’s Poppy Appeal Organiser, during which time he raised £212,835.24 in two years.
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