We were delighted to welcome 21 exuberant youngsters with a range of additional needs – along with several brothers and sisters. There was no holding back as they threw themselves into lots of fabulous games and delighted in the delicious party food, and wonderful entertainment provided by Mr Dreidel from L’Chaim Chabad Manchester.

We were honoured to be joined by our close partners Jewish Child’s Day – JCD from London – who are generous funders of Project Smile – along with our long standing supporters from Manchester’s The Big Birthday Appeal
Every child went home with a gorgeous gift, hand-picked especially for them by the centre’s staff, according to their individual abilities. The gifts had been paid for via a successful campaign earlier in the year, run by two of The Fed’s young fundraising committees – Fed Ex in London and Fed Up North based in Manchester who in total purchased over 200 gifts for children supported by Project Smile participants.

The day also marked the opening of the centre’s magnificent newly refurbished Snoozelem (controlled multi-sensory room) – funded by The Big Birthday Appeal.

Anthea Jackson, Executive Director of Jewish Child’s Day, attended the launch with Fundraising Director, Russell Brody and Grants Officer, Adele Busse. She said, “JCD are so proud to support the wonderful work of The Fed’s Children’s Services which offer vulnerable and disadvantaged children a healthy start in life.”
Suzy Glaskie, co-founder of the Big Birthday Appeal – who funded the original sensory room a decade ago – said: “The Big Birthday team are so delighted to have been able to fund cutting-edge sensory play equipment for the children supported by The Fed’s Project Smile.

Our ethos is all about empowering kids to help other children who are in need and it’s wonderful to see this equipment making a tangible difference to the lives of children with special needs.
It was a true joy to be able to witness The Fed’s incredibly dedicated team spreading happiness at the Chanukah party.”
Cutting the ribbon on the day to officially open the room were Charlie and Tessa Cahill – the next generation of young Big Birthday Fed supporters.