Bradley Lowery charity to raise funds with football shirts

The Bradley Lowery Foundation is going to be selling football shirts inspired by the charity to help raise money to fund future projects.

The Foundation was set up in August 2017 by Bradley’s mum Gemma, 38, after her son Bradley, six, sadly lost his battle with Neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

This will be the second year running that the Foundation has partnered with Speak Sunderland, a fan-led Sunderland AFC account, in order to get the shirts made.

Lynn Murphy, from the Bradley Lowery Foundation, said: “They are brilliant. They organize it all, they understand how busy we are. They have just kept us in the loop with everything that they have done. Realistically for us having guys like that help us out makes a huge difference.”

Last year the shirt sales raised nearly £3,000 for the Foundation with all the money funding future projects for them.

Lynn also spoke about the importance of fundraisers for charities: “Obviously through Covid lots of charities have struggled. Some charities haven’t made it through Covid, fortunately, we are one of the lucky ones. Lots of charities have lost hundreds of thousands of pounds during the pandemic. So, any fundraising at this point is crucial to keep charities going.”

The foundation is currently working on a Holiday Home. This will be a place where families can go and spend time together ensuring they make memories and make every moment together count.

The foundation website says: “Having a child who spends a lot of time in hospital is extremely hard, you are secluded and cut off from the outside world, I want to create a safe haven, the whole family can enjoy and reconnect.”

More on the Holiday Home can be found here.

Speaking about the Holiday Home Lynn added: “At the moment we are still very invested in the holiday home. Obviously, the price of things has pretty much tripled. So, we are still looking at getting the holiday home built for next year. Still working very closely with the contractor, so that is one of our main projects at the moment.”

Without fundraising efforts such as the football shirts, these sorts of projects would not be possible, and the Foundation would not be able to support as many families as it does.

The kits were designed by @thekitfactor on Twitter who also worked with the team last year on the same project.

Speaking on the design of the shirts @thekitfactor said: “The aim of any charity shirt is, of course, to raise as much awareness of the cause as possible.

“The Sunderland supporters have been phenomenal in their support of the charity and the designs have taken inspiration from colours from famous Sunderland shirts in the hope the supporters continue to relate to the designs.”

When asked about how it feels to play a part in helping for such a good cause, he added: “I think with any charitable cause, most of us can either relate directly through personal experience or empathise with those directly involved.

“Anything that can assist in helping to further whatever it is the charitable cause is doing is always pleasing to, indirectly, be some small part of.”

Lynn added: “A massive thank you to Speak Sunderland who again have gone out of their way to continue to support the foundation. Without people like them, we would struggle.”

The shirts, one a red and white Sunderland home shirt design, the other a white shirt with black sleeves and a green collar.

Both shirts come with Bradley Lowery Foundation across the middle and have the foundation logo on the left-hand side of the chest.

The shirts are going to be available to pre-order from January 28. Priced at £32.50 for adults and £27.50 for juniors.

They can be ordered from the hope and glory website.

Anyone wishing to donate directly to the Bradley Lowery Foundation can do so on their website.