Sunny Days Children’s Fund was founded in 2006 and provides respite breaks, small grants for those who are in need of financial help, and family support for children who have a wide range of medical conditions including Leukaemia, Cerebral Palsy, the deaf and blind, terminal illnesses and a variety of life hindering conditions.

The breaks utilise two holiday homes at Clacton and the grants are for a very wide range of needs such as sensory equipment, hospital travel expenses, clothing, mobility equipment, laptops, computers, software, medical equipment, respite costs, treadmill, hospital travel, special chairs, children’s last wishes, day trips, adapted exercise equipment, washing machines, driers, and so on. SDCF try to help as many children as possible. The grants are usually small and rarely exceed £500. They will consider every request all of which are carefully assessed. They will not finance such things as mobile phones or ordinary holidays. Normally SDCF attempts to source items direct from the supplier but will in some circumstances make a grant on condition that a receipt/invoice is produced within 14 days. SDCF has helped over 1,000 children to date and continues to support these families which includes benefits advice, form filling, emotional support (usually by telephone), help in obtaining alternative funding, and sometimes simply a supportive chat. SDCF are constantly dealing with requests from distressed families usually via referrals from Hospital and Council social workers, but they are also happy to help any distressed family caring for a child needing assistance. All requests are corroborated by a professional. SDCF also contribute some funding towards the Great Ormond Street Home Care Programme to provide nurses for home dialysis support for children with serious kidney problems.

The BWCF has been very pleased to support Sunny Days recently with a 3-year grant towards their services for these children.