A HUGE donation from Hollywood will make a world of difference to a North Wales charity.

The new owners-elect of Wrexham AFC – Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds – offered an incredible £10,000 donation to North Wales Superkids after learning about what the charity does for every corner of the region.

Retired social worker Margaret Williams MBE, from Flint, founded North Wales Superkids back in 1999 which has grown massively over the last two decades.

The group works on various projects all year round to make sure disadvantaged children do not miss out on having a childhood that many of us take for granted.

Speaking exclusively to the Leader about the donation, she said: “I could not believe it when we were sent the email – at first I thought it was a scam as it all seemed too good to be true. I still cannot believe it now that Hollywood want to help out our charity.

“Thanks to the generosity of the public our Toybox Appeal did phenomenally well. We have some good reserves on our shelves now which will give us a good head start in 2021.

"This came to us late on during the Toybox Appeal so I asked if we could instead use it for something other than toys which they were more than happy with.

“It will be a huge weight off our shoulders for 2021 knowing that the money has helped with one of our biggest expenses – it really has been nothing short of a true godsend! The biggest thank you to Rob and Ryan!”

As well as their annual Christmas Toybox Appeal, which helped a record number of families this year, another project run by the Superkids team includes their caravan project – offering holidays where possible at the Hafan y Môr site in Pwllheli where they have a static caravan.

Mum-of-two Margaret said that, in her experience as a social worker, the chance of a holiday allows families in crisis to forget about their problems for a brief time and create “priceless” memories – which has been evident from the success of the caravan project.

Due to coronavirus restrictions imposed by Welsh Government, the caravan has not been offered to families throughout 2020 – but site fees and maintenance were still required.

Mrs Williams told the Leader how she worried that without their usual fundraising means the caravan may have been ‘lost to coronavirus’.

She said: “We’ve not been able to do any fundraising in 2020 because of restrictions and the caravan sadly went without families making memories there but we still had to pay for it.

“Because we do not know how 2021 is going to pan out with funding and everything else, we’ve earmarked that £10,000 for the caravan site. That way, I know that we have the money to pay for the year and that we are safe.”

The Leader:

PICTURED; Kerry Evans, of Wrexham AFC, with Superkids founder Margaret Williams MBE

Kerry Evans, disability liaison officer for Wrexham AFC, was the one who broke the news to the lucky Superkids team.

She told the Leader how an email dropped into her inbox from the Hollywood duo offering up the donation after being told what the outstanding charity does at a local and regional level in North Wales.

She said: “I was absolutely blown away by the email, near to tears in fact. After speaking with Margaret about this it is obvious how much this donation will mean to the charity moving forward.

“Such a significant donation will help Margaret and her team with the caravan holidays initiative in North Wales. I can’t thank Rob and Ryan enough for taking such a huge worry off the shoulders of Superkids.”

During the festive season, Wrexham AFC acted as a drop off point for the charity’s Toybox Appeal and supporters managed to provide an incredible 500 gifts to help families.

Kerry added that she has been told by club officials that Wrexham AFC will continue to build up a long-standing relationship with the charity and help them in whatever way they can moving forward.