A Bristol-based charity that does a lot of work in the South Gloucestershire area has raised over £30,000 after a national campaign.

Jessie May provides vital respite support to families caring for a terminally ill child, as well as emotional support, end of life care and bereavement support.

They frequently run fundraising events and collect large donations from those that have benefitted from the support they give.

However the recent Big Give Christmas Challenge event, that was being matched nationally by pledgers to the charity, raised a massive £33,000.

Jessie May took part in the week-long campaign between November 27th and December 4th, with the aim of raising £23,100; the funding required to welcome 11 additional children to their services.

During the campaign week, supporters had the opportunity to have their donation doubled through The Big Give, as they were matched £ for £ by the charity’s ‘Pledgers’. From midday on Giving November 27th the charity rallied for donations and successfully raised over £10,000 more than their original £23,100 target.

The charity reached their £23,100 online fundraising target within 5 hours of the campaign going live, and went on to raise a total of £33,495.75 during the week. This funding means 15, instead of the targeted 11, children with life limiting conditions can be supported by Jessie May’s specialist nurses.

Chris Roys, CEO at Jessie May, said: “We are absolutely thrilled with this fantastic outcome. It was quite a shock to reach our £23,100 target so quickly – just hours in to our Big Give campaign going live – and to then continue to receive donations in support of our nurses’ vital work.

“This level of funding will make a huge difference to our charity.

"It will enable us to welcome additional children and families on to our caseload, and ensuring we can continue to provide our services to those our nurses are already supporting through respite care, emotional support, end of life care and bereavement support.

As a charity, we rely heavily on voluntarily funding, so it has been astounding to see so many different supporters get involved with our Christmas Challenge.

"They passionately rally for donations and generously donate themselves.

"It’s amazing to see our supporters work together to rally support for Jessie May, and achieve so much, in so little time.

“We’re hugely grateful to everyone who’s supported Jessie May; from our Big Give ‘Pledgers’, who promised to support us months ago, to our donors who donated during the week.

"Thanks also to Candis Magazine, our ‘Champion Pledger’, and to the Jessie May families who helped to spread the word of our match-funding mission.

"Finally, we’d like to express our thanks to all our anonymous donors!

"We cannot reach out to thank these anonymous individuals but we truly hope they are aware of our tremendous gratitude.”

The charity’s nurses are currently supporting 139 children and 49 bereaved families across the region.

This includes Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Wiltshire, Bath & Somerset.