THEY say watching television has an impact on a child’s life.
And that is certainly true of Owen Lonnon who has helped raised funds and helped send a container of medical and food supplies to people in war-torn Syrian after watching a news piece.
The kind-hearted six-year-old wanted to do something after his mum, Alison, explained to him why men were scaring the children in Syria by setting off rockets and bombing where they live.
Following the news item Owen took to the kitchen and baked and decorated batches of cakes and asked friends and family to help boost his supplies before heading to Elmdon Church to sell them.
Alison also took some along to her running group Mums On The Run, who doubled the donations made at the group.
The Valley infant School pupil raised more than £275 for Shropshire Loves, a charity which has been sending supplies to Idlib, the city nearest to Aleppo.
Owen said: “I want the money to help children in Syria.
“Putting the money into the charity bank account was brilliant.
“I would like to thank Elmdon Church and Mums On The Run for hosting the bake sale and thank you to all my customers for helping me raise so much money.”
The money raised by Owen would pay for a whole pallet of food to be included in a container.
Proud parents Alison and Adrian said: “We’re so proud of Owen.
“The fact that he had the idea to do this at just six years old shows how compassionate he is.
“To start with he wanted to put the cakes on a plane to Syria but he quickly understood and decided to sell cakes to raise money instead.”
Shropshire Loves supports the homeless and displaced and has been helping orphans in Idlib and has sent six containers to the city in eight months.
It can cost up to £2,500 to fill and send one container however this figure can change especially if the shipping or filling is sponsored by groups or organisations wanting to help out.
Lea Beven, founder of the charity said: “Owen has done a beautiful humanitarian thing for the orphans in Syria.
“He’s raised enough to buy a whole pallet of food, which could feed hundreds of children.
“We absolutely love when children get involved in our work even half term week we’ve had about 20 children under 12 volunteer to sort clothes in the warehouse.
“We can’t thank his mother enough, as what we teach our children, moulds the future of our planet.
“Thank you Owen.”
