Georgina's making a packet for good cause
Empty baby wet-wipe packets are piling up in Georgina Budding's home, but so is the charity cash.
A fleeting idea by the mum-of-three has helped to generate £10,000 to raise awareness of children's brain tumours.
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A year ago, Georgina, 41, set up an events page on Facebook to encourage people to donate empty baby wipe packets for recycling.
Each packet is worth 2p – paid by a recycling company – and in the past 12 months nearly 500,000 packets have been collected.
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Georgina, of Anstey, said: "I set up the Facebook event page – like an e-invitation – last February.
"Within 26 hours, 2,000 people had said they would collect.
"It has snowballed since then and so far 497,802 empty packets have been collected and recycled into things such as plastic bins and watering cans.
"Not only have all those wipes been saved from going into landfill, they have meant £10,000 to help research into children's brain tumours."
Georgina said: "I have become known as the wet-wipe lady.
"People can send their collections straight to the charity but I often get them through my door and the other day someone handed me a load in the street."
Georgina's idea came to her after she saw a poster for Ellie's Fund Brain Tumour Trust.
The trust was set up in memory of Ellie Othick, of Scarborough, who was 14 when she died in 2010 after suffering two brain tumours.
Georgina said: "I saw a poster and thought 'I'm too busy to do that fund-raising' but then something just clicked.
"I have three children under six and we get through a fair few packets of wipes and I decided to set up the Facebook page as much as a reminder to myself as anything.
"I was in tears when 2,000 people said they would join the collection. I thought I might get 50 if I was lucky."
Initially, the collection was going to last a year but the charity and Georgina are carrying on.
She said: "I owe such a big thank- you to everyone in Leicestershire who has been helping with this.
"Individuals and organisations such as nurseries have been collecting and we are going to set ourselves a new target.
"People can donate any make, as long as it is a baby wipe packet."
Once at least 25 packets have been collected, people can send an e-mail to the address below and the charity will send a pre-paid postage label. E-mail:
babywipes@elliesfund.com
For more information, go to:
www.elliesfund.com
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