Trade body bacta, wish granting charity Rays of Sunshine and manufacturer Whitehouse Leisure have teamed up to launch a new fundraising drive to help brighten the lives of seriously ill children across the UK.

The organisations are aiming to raise £10,000 from the initiative, which will see Whitehouse Leisure sell their brand new ‘Cute Eco Animal’ plush products from its award-winning environmentally friendly Eco Earth range of plush toys to amusement operators.

The price of the toys will include a 25p donation which is being matched with a further 25p from Whitehouse Leisure.

These donations will be donated via the Bacta Charitable Trust (BCT) to Rays of Sunshine, a charity that brightens the lives of seriously ill children across the UK by granting wishes and providing ongoing support in hospitals, at the end of the summer season (30th September).

In addition to matching what is raised through the Cute Eco Earth Animal plush fundraiser, Whitehouse Leisure will also produce a range of eye-catching promotional material for use in the crane machines to promote the Rays of Sunshine initiative.

Details of the work that Rays of Sunshine does will feature on the swing-tags affixed to each toy to help spread the message.

News of the initiative comes after the BCT renewed its partnership with Rays of Sunshine at the end of last year, donating £20,000 to the charity.

The BCT and Rays of Sunshine are hoping to raise £100,000 together over the next two years. Some £30,000 has already been raised.

The amusement machine industry has raised £500,000 for Rays of Sunshine through the BCT over the past decade.

Bacta CEO John White said: “This is a fantastic and innovative initiative from Whitehouse, Rays of Sunshine and BCT. It is also great to see that all the toys sold will be eco-friendly. We are a long-standing supporter of Rays of Sunshine and we are extremely proud of helping brighten the lives of more than 80,000 seriously ill children and their families over the years.”

Chairman of bacta Charitable Trust, Steve Hawkins, said: “We are excited to be working with Whitehouse Leisure on this new fundraising initiative with Rays of Sunshine. I am sure we will see a great response from the wider industry as Whitehouse has generously pledged to match all funds raise through the crane toy programme.”

Cheryl Tissot, Interim CEO at Rays of Sunshine, said: “The Cute Eco Range is such a fun initiative that will have a big impact for seriously ill children across the UK. We’re delighted to be partnered with the bacta Charitable Trust, creatively raising funds to help us grant even more magical wishes. We want to thank all the partners involved and hope that everyone enjoys the range, donating and having fun in the process.”

Phil Setter, Managing Director of Whitehouse Leisure said: “We are delighted to partner with Bacta on the crane toy fundraiser and to help raise invaluable donations for such a fantastic charity like Rays of Sunshine. We see the smiles that our products bring to children every day and to help raise money for Rays of Sunshine through the sales of our Cute Eco Earth plush toys is something we are extremely excited to be a part of.”