Northern Ireland Hospice Care

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School Celebrates Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice campaign of Magical Proportions ] Friday, 09 May 2008

School Celebrates Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice campaign of Magical Proportions

The Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice is known for its care and long term support of hundreds of children with life-limiting conditions and their families from right across Northern Ireland. It couldn’t possibly provide this vital lifeline on its own, and is heavily dependant on the support shown by the general public. One way in which this support is demonstrated was the massive success of the annual Reindeer Food campaign. Reindeer Food has been a hit since its launch by the children’s hospice four years ago. Children of all ages are delighted by the magical mix of glitter and oats, as they finally have a sure-fire way of ensuring Santa knows exactly where to visit come Christmas Eve. Packaged in white paper sachets and sold in Tesco, Winemark and hospice stores, it made the perfect stocking filler. A particularly special aspect of the Reindeer Food Campaign was the unique opportunity it provided for children to help children.

The campaign could not have happened without the support of the public, nor could it have succeeded without the help of Tesco. Not only did they stock Reindeer Food in all their stores, but they also acted as chief sponsors and helped raise the public profile of the whole project. The product may be magical, but it took more than that to get it onto the shelves.

Another vital aspect of the campaign was convincing schools to stock up with the miraculous Reindeer food. The children’s hospice and Tesco between them developed a free draw, into which schools that bought the magical white sachets were automatically entered, with £500 worth of Tesco vouchers as the alluring main prize. Schools from all over Northern Ireland answered the Hospice’s call, and the draw greatly enhanced the entire promotion.

The main draw was made on the 14th of December 2007, and Derrylatinee Primary School of Dungannon was named the winning school. The prize was presented to the delighted Mary McNeice, a teacher in the school, and a group of her pupils by Oliver Tallon, a manager at Tesco Dungannon on 14th January 2008.

“It was lovely to be a part of the Reindeer Food camapign for the children’s hospice” Mary McNeice commented “The Children loved sprinkling out the seeming magical oats for Rudolph and his friends, and its success is a tribute to the truly magical work of the Hospice staff.” “We were delighted that we could help promote the children’s hospice the way we did”.

Mr Talllon speaking at the prize giving commented. “Their work is something that we can all be proud of, and we were glad that Tesco could promote the Reindeer food programme in particular, as well as the children’s hospice more generally.”

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