Ty Hafan is close to the hearts of our staff in Cardiff Bay

We are fundrasing this May Bank Holiday, for a very worthy cause. Both our Mermaid Quay and Red Dragon stores will be putting on activites over the weekend with competitions, prizes and face painting.

Dayna, our assistant manager at Mermaid Quay, tell us her story about why she supports Ty Hafan;

This year our chosen charity is Ty Hafan, this was the first children’s hospice that was opened in Wales. Over the past 15 years this charity has helped almost 600 life-limited children, young people and their families. This means a great deal to me, as all of their fundraising, hard work and dedication meant my younger cousin, Stacey, was able to live her life as full as she could until she passed away at 9 years old.

Ty Hafan is a happy, friendly place where the staff provide support to families of patients. They help by supporting parents and siblings, as well as the child who needs to be cared for. My cousin stayed there 3 or 4 times a year and this enabled my family to go on holidays or to have some time off to rest. However my cousin wasn’t upset by this as she cherished going there. In their facilities she enjoyed the most the Jacuzzi which relaxes the children and the sensory lightroom. These are just examples of the wide range of facilities in which Ty Hafan provide that my cousin was able to have the luxury of using.

As mentioned, they support the child’s parents as well by providing a kitchen that is available for them to use. This is highly useful as it provides amenities when the parents are away from home, which can be many days or weeks. There is also a special quiet family area which is peaceful and soothing to minimise distress when it is time to say goodbye. This is where I, and the rest of my family started to go when it was reaching closer to the end. We used this area often to reflect as we all found it difficult to come to terms with our goodbyes.

Ty Hafan provide a club once a month and also provide long-term support when it is needed. A year after Stacey passed away, we attended a memorial service that was held in the Ty Hafan site. They hold this annually for all of the children that have passed away and a separate Christmas service is also provided.

This charity is very close to me as it did a lot for my cousin when she was alive. They helped my family get through an extremely hard time and even now, years on, their support is still available if we need it. By helping us raise money for Ty Hafan it provides them with funding to carry on the work they do and maintain the facilities that the children find comfort in. Please help us raise money for this great cause and provide families the support they need by bringing your own children to enjoy our activities we are holding this May Bank Holiday.