About us
Post Pals is a small charity run solely by volunteers who are dedicated to making seriously ill children and their siblings aged 3-17 smile. We ask the public to send cards, letters, little gifts as well as sending them ourselves.
Vikki George (Founder/Chair) became very unwell as a teenager, she was bedbound, unable to talk and isolated but she received cards even though she couldn’t reply and this became the highlight of her day. In 2002 aged 18, Vikki was still bedbound with lots of restrictions but found she could use a laptop laying flat for short periods and had the idea for Post Pals to help children.
Vikki and 4 other teenagers set up Post Pals, thanks to a National Lottery grant via the Princes Trust. Many people believed the concept would never work, what good is a card to a child with cancer? How can someone who can’t even sit up run a charity? ‘No one will want to join or send a card to a child’ was another thing we heard a lot.
Post Pals did take off though and people saw how much the children benefitted from receiving mail and feeling cared about. We had hoped to just bring smile but were amazed when parents reported back that their children’s self-esteem was growing from feeling they had ‘Post Pals friends’ who cared about them. Parents also reported back how seeing their child receive such kindness had given their morale a boost too.
Volunteers came and went but Post Pals continued to grow and into a registered charity (with a big thanks to Jan who was our treasurer and got us registered. Jan was the most organised volunteer you could ever have. Sadly, she has since passed away but her work helped propel Post Pals forwards).
Not only do we send cards, letters, and little gifts but we now organise days out, grant small wishes, provide emotional support, hold weekends away which are made to be inclusive to every single child’s needs, as well as holding parties and during Covid held Zoom events to keep the children connected and less isolated.
Post Pals has certainly grown but we are still run by unwell volunteers from home. Every penny that gets donated to Post Pals is used on the children as we have no staff wages or office costs.
Post Pals patron – Fearne Cotton
Fearne presented the award of ‘Favourite Lottery Funded Project South East 2006’ to Post Pals and has supported us from then on. In September 2007 she officially became our patron. She often speaks to the children and sends them post or holds art Zoom sessions with them.
She says, “I’m honoured to be asked to be patron and so happy to help spread the Post Pals word! What a great idea! Its so easy to make a kid smile.”
