AJ, a member of the 8th South Leeds (Carlton) Beavers, has recently been the recipient of the first Youth Commissioners Challenge badge.

AJ was keen to support Candlelighters through the scouts after we supported his family when his brother was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in August 2017.

He approached Haribo in Pontefract, Foxes Biscuits, ASDA, Morrisons and Costa Coffee to ask for their support and donations.  Foxes kindly donated 2 boxes of biscuits, Haribo donated a hamper and a cuddly toy and ASDA Middleton donated 10 bags of sweets.

AJ’s mum commented saying, “We were unaware of Candlelighters and how they support children with cancer and their families, until Oliver became ill. We want to raise awareness of this fantastic charity that have supported our family through our tough journey and AJ really enjoys the sibling groups. Not only did AJ want to do the fundraising to earn his Beaver badge but from the start of his mission he was clear he wanted all the poorly children to have sweets because in the eyes of a six year old, sweets make everyone happy”

AJ, his mum and brother Oliver came to visit The Square before Christmas because AJ wanted to present us with the sweets himself. He also brought along the community champion for ASDA Middleton, Rachel, who had a tour of The Square and The Wards and is now looking into fundraising further for us.

From everyone here at Candlelighters, we would like to say a massive thank you to AJ for his super effort and we think he thoroughly deserved his Youth Commissioners Challenger badge.