Brave Lucius, 3, to fundraise for Mencap
Three-year-old Lucius Corry, who has Down’s syndrome, is taking on his biggest challenge yet to raise vital funds for Mencap Northern Ireland to thank the charity for supporting him to take his first steps. Lucius will take on a 50-jump challenge as part of Mencap in Northern Ireland’s ‘Move It For Mencap’ fundraising campaign to help the charity deliver its life-changing services to people with learning disabilities across the province.
At two-years-old Lucius started attending the Mencap Children’s Centre, which is run in partnership with the Belfast Trust, where he was supported to take his first steps last December. Although the pandemic meant that the Children’s Centre was unable to deliver face-to-face support, Mencap quickly adapted its services to offer virtual support to families. Lucius and mum Joanne are grateful for this. Lucius had been trying for weeks to jump and was really struggling, but during lockdown he achieved his first jump.
Joanne said: “Lucius has thrived at Mencap’s Children’s Centre. He learned to walk in December, which was a major achievement for him. He couldn’t have done it without the support from Mencap. The staff have been brilliant to us. The workshops and training courses were a great help to me and my family. Lucius loves jumping. We decided we would like to help to raise as much as we can for Mencap.” Margaret Kelly, Mencap, added: “It means to so much to us that our families so value our services that they are willing to fundraise on top of everything else they do.”