Gravesend mum inspired by Christmas Eve Jingle helps raise £1,000 for ellenor
15:37, 23 December 2020
updated: 15:52, 23 December 2020
A mum says she's been amazed after raising more than £1,000 for a charity which has supported her disabled son.
Lisa Edmonds, from Gravesend, came up with the idea to create bells after being inspired by the Christmas Eve Jingle.
The idea is to help combat loneliness by bringing people outside their homes on Christmas Eve to ring bells, similar to the clap for carers movement.
The bells Lisa has been making will support ellenor, based in Northfleet, which has been helping her son Cameron since they moved to the town in 2012.
Having initially expected to sell less than 100 bells, Lisa and her friend Denise Parris have made more than 1,000 and are still going strong.
Lisa said: "I saw a lady had posted in the nationwide Christmas Eve Jingle group that she'd bought some bells for the children in her road. This got me thinking.
"I like to try to do something for charity every year."
"No way did we expect it to go as crazy as it did..."
Cameron, 20, suffers with duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and has been looked after by the charity throughout his teenage years.
When he was in the children's services department, Lisa says she'd always create a hamper for a fellow family looked after by the charity.
She said: "After a rubbish year which has seen us shielding since February, other than the odd road trip to nowhere, I felt I wanted to do something just to have purpose.
"I messaged my good friend Denise at silly o'clock one morning running the idea past her.
"No way did we expect it to go as crazy as it did. I had to rope Denise in to help, as being Cam's main carer and he needs 24-hour care, it was like a full time job, and something I just couldn't do alone.
"We have now raised over £1,000 for a charity who have helped us so much over the years, and supported us especially through Covid and my marriage breakdown, and it feels good to be able to give something back."
