After twelve months hard work and determination, local supermarket group AvailableCar were delighted to be able to hand over a cheque recently of more than £20,000 to Freya Smythe, one of the children from their adopted charity, Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People.

Freya who is age 15 and suffers from life-limiting conditions, Rett syndrome and Lennox syndrome, is just one of the young people from the Midlands area, who goes to the much needed Rainbows Hospice for specialist respite stays, symptom management, palliative and end-of-life care.

Employees at AvailableCar decided in March last year, to dedicate all their fundraising efforts to the charity because it helps children in the surrounding areas of both of their two supermarket site areas, which are Castle Donington and Sutton-In-Ashfield.

Now twelve months on, employees at the Sutton-In-Ashfield site have done marathons, sponsored cycles, raffles and some very brave team members even took part in the Rainbows Sky Dive, in a bid to raise as much money for the hospitals running costs as possible. Customers have also been doing their bit to help, by kindly adding one or two extra pounds onto their car sale.

Rainbows is a purpose-built children's hospice, which opened its doors in 1994 to meet the needs of children and young people from the East Midlands. All the children and young people who go to Rainbows are affected by life-limiting and life-threatening conditions. Rainbows have become a much needed facility for the children and their families, Barbara Smythe said: "Being able to visit a hospice like Rainbows is a lifeline. It's given us the confidence, support and freedom to feel like a proper family.

To receive the cheque from AvailableCar and to say thank you to the whole team, Freya went to collect the money with her Mum Barbara and members of the Rainbows Team Julie Macauley and Kate Golding. Kate said: "We think AvailableCar have put in a tremendous amount of effort into raising funds for Rainbows over the last year. Not only have the staff shown a great amount of team spirit, they have also used in-store branding to really raise awareness for Rainbows and what it does, which we feel is very important as it is a much needed facility in the East Midlands area. We would also like to say a big thank you to all of the customers of AvailableCar for their support and generosity.

"The £20,000 will be used to help meet the general running costs of the Hospice which total over £60,000 per week, which is a staggering £3.6 million per year. Donations like this one are extremely important so that Rainbows can go on to offer more help to children, young people and their families."

After raising such an impressive figure, the AvailableCar team have agreed to continue fundraising for Rainbows over the next twelve months.