Kind-hearted families are recognised in Parliament

Motherwell and Wishaw MSP Clare Adamson submitted motions to recognise kind-hearted Laura McKeating and Graeme Downie, Liann and Colin Weir and the Kelman Family.

Laura and Graeme raised over £7000 for NHS Lanarkshire’s bereavement fund and the Lola Commons Fund in memory of their daughter Aria, who was stillborn at 26 weeks last July.

Their initial target was to raise was to raise £500 through their Just Giving page, but that, within two weeks, they had already received £2000 and a number of events were held to push them to their total.

More than £5000 will be put towards creating a bereavement suite to allow parents to spend time alone with their child.

Liann and Colin raised £1,250 for Wishaw General Hospital’s neonatal unit, in memory of their daughter, Emily, to mark what would have been her 10th birthday.

Emily was born 15 weeks premature in October 2006 and sadly passed away a few weeks later because of complications.

The Weirs aimed to raise £1,000 over 10 months, but reached their target five months ahead of schedule through a Random Acts of Kindness campaign where participants carried out 10 random acts of kindness over 10 months and donated £1 for each act.

The money raised will raised will help towards the running of the neonatal unit at Wishaw General.

The Kelman family raised £3,500 for the Les Hoey MBE DreamMaker Foundation, inspired by their daughter Lisa.

#TeamLisa campaign encourages people from all over the world to take selfies while wearing #TeamLisa t-shirts.

In addition they recently held a fundraising extravaganza in St Bernadette’s Hall, which Mrs Adamson attended.

Mrs Adamson said: “Most fundraising is done by people who don’t seek any recognition, but I felt it was a nice thing to be able to recognise the efforts of these three families in the Parliament.

“All have been hit by loss or difficult circumstances, but it is so inspirational to see them coming through it to make a positive difference to other people’s lives.”