Wood Street Heroes – Harry Buckland-Lee

When you’re 5 years old, a Wood Street Hero and a budding entrepreneur, answering questions about your fundraising efforts isn’t a priority so instead, allow us to tell you a bit about Harry!

In September 2021 we received a donation from Carole Spirit enclosing a fabulous donation of £670.61.

Carole’s 5-year-old grandson Harry, set up a little shop selling vegetables on his front doorstep. Unfortunately, because he lives in a tiny cul-de-sac, absolutely nobody walked past and after a whole hour he gave up and went inside dejected.

Nana Carole suggested he set up shop again on her garden wall the following weekend, hoping he might attract some passing trade this time because the wall goes down the edge of the lane onto the golf course. Nanna Carole also went one step further by letting all of the neighbours know about Harry’s forthcoming sale for Wood Street.

Harry was a ROARING success and Carole’s community proved their generosity and kindness. In just over an hour the stall was sold out with people queuing at one point to buy one potato for £5. One little girl gave the entire contents of her piggy bank, another actually gave Harry her Penguin Piggy Bank, three little boys each bought a carrot and four strawberries and proceeded to happily munch the raw carrots. Many lingered and joined in the fun, chatting to Harry who was literally jumping for joy after his first sale, because somebody actually wanted to buy his vegetables. He was delighted.

It was a day full of joy and community spirit. The added bonus being that Harry collected £275.61. To add to the surprise, completely out of the blue, Zach Ballan from Excel-A-Rate who lived locally, promised that his company would match the total taking it to £551.22.

The story doesn’t end there either.  Whilst Harry was in bed cuddling his Penguin Money Box, envelopes were still coming through the door with money in for Harry, taking the final donation to £670.61.

We’re always so touched by our donor’s generosity and creativity when it comes to fundraising and this is no exception. Harry’s story will stay with us for a long time to come and we couldn’t wait to present him with his certificate. When we asked him what the best thing about selling vegetables was, he shouted ‘Raising Money’, we couldn’t agree more Hero Harry!!