PASSING THE PARCEL OF WISHES
Make-A-Wish Foundation® UK marks its 25th anniversary with an attempt to break the world record for the biggest ‘Pass the Parcel’
Residents in the capital witnessed the arrival of the world’s biggest Pass the Parcel attempt, as the charity Make-A-Wish Foundation® UK celebrated its 25th birthday in style.
Celebrity supporter and former S Club Seven band member Hannah Spearritt waved off the parcel on a large 7.5 tonne flat bed truck, as it set off on a magical ten-day tour, granting 25 special wishes to young people who are fighting life-threatening illnesses and the hospitals that care for them.
The enormous parcel, wrapped as a gigantic present, measures 3.35m length, 2.44m breadth and 1.88m depth – a total of 15.37 cubic metres – and features the following amazing features: –
· It is made from 120 metres of sustainable wood – the length of a full-sized football pitch
· It is made from 740.5 square metres of specially printed wrapping material
· The wrapping features 7000 Make-A-Wish stars
· The parcel weighs in at an immense 460 kilos, which is 72 stone!
· The size of the parcel will beat the current world record by 40%
The parcel will tour towns and cities across the UK from 7th June to 16th June 2011, covering an estimated 1,680 miles, plus approximately 180 nautical miles, during its epic expedition. The parcel must complete a giant circular tour of the UK in order to beat the world record. At each stop, a layer will be peeled off by the child or hospital staff to reveal the gift. The exciting journey began at Evelina Children’s Hospital in London; the first of 25 wish-granting stops in the UK.
Neil Jones, Make-A-Wish Chief Executive, comments: “This June, we are celebrating a wonderful milestone in the history of Make-A-Wish; 25 years of making wishes a reality. Since 1986, we have had a single purpose: to grant magical wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening illnesses, and we want to rally as much support as we can to help us on our wishgranting journey over the next 25 years.
“The Pass the Parcel tour is a fantastic way of delivering a wish in a very special way to children, hospices and hospitals around the nation. It’s our way of saying thank you to all those people who have helped and, of course, put the smiles back on the faces of the young people who have been through so much.
“We hope that the tour will encourage everyone to follow us on our journey and support us by donating whatever they can to help make our 25th anniversary year our best year ever.”
If you would like to make a donation or discuss a child or young person who may be eligible for a wish , please call 01276 40 50 60.
Follow the Pass the Parcel Tour and keep up to date with Make-A-Wish activities by visiting www.make-a-wish.org.uk, follow us on twitter at twitter.com/#!/makeawishuk (@MakeAWishuk) and become a fan on Facebook: www.facebook.com/makeawishfoundationuk, where regular updates about our activities will be shared.