Football fundraisers help send girl on dream Disney trip
A fundraising effort by a Black Country football team will help give a young girl the trip of a lifetime.
Players from Sunday League team Wolves Pride FC organised a series of fundraising events and have raked in £2,000, which will help send three-year-old Ava Marie to Walt Disney World in Florida.
The team were inspired to help after club captain Luke Draisey, who is the godfather of Ava-Marie Watkins-Charlton, spoke about how she was suffering from a number of health issues and her family wanted to take her to Disneyland.
Club members Danny Thornton and Carl Edwards helped to get the ball rolling by starting a GoFundMe page and co-ordinated the fundraising efforts, with players donating raffle prizes and a Halloween party at Wednesfield Conservative Club raising funds.
The team presented Ava-Marie and her family with a cheque at a special ceremony outside Molineux.
Danny wanted to help Ava-Marie, having a daughter of his own who is the same age, and having done fundraising in the past for the Haven Wolverhampton.
He said: “She loves everything to do with Disney, so we started the work to fundraise for her.
"To have raised this much is a massive achievement and I feel honoured to be able to make a difference to someone’s life through something I enjoy.
“Being able to do this with a bunch of lads you see every week is wonderful and this is something I will never forget.”
