Throughout April, Mickey Demetriou hosted a raffle to win Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round Memorabilia including his match worn shirt, a signed match ball, and a signed match day programme.
The idea was to raise as much money as possible to fund the purchasing of Toys, Games, and gifts for the Royal Gwent Hospital Paediatric ward.
Newport County AFC supporters dug deep to support the raffle and the cause, over £1700 in ticket sales. An anonymous donor also donated to the cause which took the total to £2048 to be spent on games, toys and games consoles.
Yesterday evening, Mickey delivered the brand-new toys to the Royal Gwent Hospital Paediatric Ward. The children were already in their rooms by the time the gifts were dropped off, but they will have woken to next morning to a mountain of new toys and gifts to enjoy including a new kitchen set, a cashier’s till, a PS4, two gaming chairs, television, a toy pram, and a 4ft teddy bear, as well as trucks, cars colouring books, teddies, arts and crafts activities, and more.
Mickey said: "Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the paediatric ward at the Royal Gwent Hospital and take along with me two cars filled to bursting with toys and games for their playrooms!
"It was a privilege to be able to do something for all the children and their families that have to spend time there and I hope it will help make their stays a little easier and help towards recovery and feeling better!
"I couldn’t have done it without all the support I was shown from all the fans that purchased raffle tickets at the end of the season. I was overwhelmed to hear we raised over £1,700 on raffle tickets alone, the Staff and Volunteers at Newport County AFC were fantastic with all their help promoting and selling the tickets for which I’m very grateful for!
"I would also like to personally say thank you to the anonymous donors for their kind and generous donation to round up our total to £2000!
"When we visited the ward as a team at Christmas, they said the playrooms were due a makeover and I remember coming away thinking just how bare it was with very little for them to do whilst they were in. As a new Dad it really touched a nerve with me and I decided I wanted to do something to help.
"Every penny of the money raised was spent on helping to improve the paediatric ward's playrooms by providing items from a tv, PS4 and gaming chairs, to toy kitchens and shops, baby walkers, educational tablets and sensory toys just to name a few. I hope the children enjoy playing with them all as much as I did choosing, shopping and delivering them!"
Jan Scourfield, who works in the playrooms at the Royal Gwent Hospital said: “What a fantastic donation to walk in on this morning! I’d like to thank Mickey Demetriou for the incredible effort he’s made to provide us with so many toys. I will split up the toys so all the paediatric departments have a share. I know they will be gratefully received and well used!”
Two prizes from the raffle still haven't been collected, if you have ticket number 0781 or 0470, please contact Hayley Ford to claim your prize.