Nottingham shoppers have voted for Forever Stars to become ‘charity of the year’ for the Broadmarsh and Victoria shopping centres.
The Nottingham charity raises money for services in the East Midlands that support bereaved parents of stillborn babies.
Richard and Michelle Daniels set up the charity in 2013 after their daughter Emily was stillborn.
By winning through a public vote organised by Intu shopping centres, Forever Stars will receive all the penny wish donations that go into the Emett Clock fountain, upstairs in Victoria Centre.
Through fundraising the couple have set up ‘Serenity Suites’ for grieving parents at Nottingham’s Queens Medical Centre in 2016 and the City Hospital in 2017.
Video: Michelle Daniels, co-founder, speaks about her personal experience with stillbirth and why Forever Stars was created.
The couple set up the charity because many parents who experienced a loss in hospital had nowhere to go after a birth other than to a maternity ward – and spend time next to parents who had just had healthy newborn babies.
Michelle said: “When we lost our daughter we had fantastic care but the facilities just didn’t seem right.”
Richard Daniels, co-founder, described how there was only a single chair, single bed and as a father he felt “pretty useless.” He didn’t feel he was able to provide the emotional support he wanted.
The Serenity Suites are permanent rooms away from the maternity ward allowing families to spend quiet time with a baby after stillbirth.
They include a cuddle cot (cold cot) – where the Moses basket is actually a cooling unit which allows families to spend extra time with their baby by regulating its body temperature.
In the UK 11 babies are stillborn every day (NHS England), making stillbirth 15 times more common than cot death. Michelle Daniels told us how before her own experience she and her husband “weren’t familiar with how frequently still birth occurs.”
2018 plan: Goals for Forever Stars
- Developing more serenity suites
- Providing reading material to help families with the grieving process
- Books and bears to help siblings come to terms with baby loss
- Funding additional training for midwifery team members at NUH in specific bereavement skills training
- Counselling for families and specifically siblings
- Memory boxes for families
Intu Victoria Centre and Broadmarsh are also hoping to provide awareness and practical help during the creation of a the Forever Stars memorial garden.
Nigel Wheatley, general manager of Intu Victoria Centre and Broadmarsh, said: “In a shopping centre we have carpenters, people who can do grounds work. We’ve got our own team that can just mow lawns and clean things.
“We’re pleased with the way we have been able to engage with people but also how it has become something people can really become involved with in the selection [of the charity of the year].”
Richard Daniels added: “To be chosen is a real honour for us, it’s great that it was a public vote so it means people are becoming more aware of the charity.”
