Residents are being asked to help improve their local area by joining Jude's Spring clean.
Jude is a 10 year old boy from Thorpe Hesley who has been living with Leukaemia for a number of years and is still receiving treatment.
Tired of seeing litter dropped in their local area, Jude and his sister Lily have pledged to litter pick the local community for 3 hours per week for 3 months running from Mother’s day to Father’s day. Jude wants to use this as an opportunity to raise money for Cure Leukaemia.
The local community in Thorpe Hesley are supporting this young man and are holding a community litter pick on Sunday 14 May 2023. The meeting point will be on the Wesley Steps grassed area, opposite the framing shop on Thorpe Street. The group will be meeting at 9.45am for a 10am start. For more information, please visit the Thorpe Hesley Litter Angels Facebook page.
Rotherham residents can support Jude's work by litter picking in your community on Sunday 14 May or the week before.
If you are getting involved, please take a photo of your pick/pickers and share on social media using the hashtag #TeamJude. Or, if you are happy for Rotherham Council to share your images, please send any images to lovewhereyoulive@rotherham.gov.uk.
Jo Hawkridge, Lily and Jude's mum, said:
Everything is out of your hands as a parent when your child is diagnosed with a life threatening illness, add covid and we were thrown into 24 hours a day of thinking about 'cancer and what does our future hold as a family' we needed to do something, so with Jude’s idea, fundraising was our escape.
"#Teamjude has raised over £80k for various charities who have helped us through our journey of cancer. The next focus is getting trials to children. Cure Leukaemia have a campaign running to raise £10 million to open trial centres around the UK in children’s hospitals and want to get the trials to those that need them.
"Without a trial Jude would not be here today. Someone in the past raised money and part of that money funded the trial Jude has access to, we want to thank them so much but do not know who they are or why they did it. What we can do is continue the legacy and help more children survive."
Keppel Ward Councillor, Tony Browne, said:
Jude and his family have been an inspiration both in their fight against Jude’s Leukaemia and their fundraising efforts for Cure Leukaemia. Jude and his sister Lily have pledged to litter pick in Thorpe Hesley to raise funds and the least that we can do as a local community is to join together and honour their initiative.
"It is a great opportunity to join with Jude and hold a community litter pick on Sunday 14 May 2023.
"We can all contribute by fund raising for Cure Leukaemia and tidy our community at the same time to achieve the same as Jude and Lily by making it a better place to live and enjoy."