By setting up a separate profile, I felt that this would probably be the best way to introduce and to help you lovely Enchanted Folk access this wonderful charity on here, especially as Drew and I have recently returned from Dundee where we were helping to host the most amazing and special Fairy Box Party (Jan 07). We were joined by our dear friend, UK Fantasy Artist Linda Ravenscroft, who is now officially one of the charity’s patrons and was an enchanting, inspiring part of the celebrations up in Scotland - photos on my EF site!

I have also included here, a piece written by the charity’s founder, Rosie Butler, as she describes the work and ethos of the charity far better than me! And, in the form of our first Fairy Box blog, a beautiful thank you and tribute from Rosie to UK Fantasy Artist Josephine Wall who was so inspired by Rosie’s enchanting daughter Aimee (my best fairy friend in the whole world) that she painted her portrait, entitled ‘Fairy Lights'. This exquisite painting is of Aimee, surrounded by her fairy friends and you can count their faces in her wings! We are delighted to have both Jo and Rosie’s kind permission to put it up here on EF.

There is also a section in the new Uniting Kingdoms part of Faerie Magazine Winter 2007, where we have begun covering this unique charity, together with the faerie artists and Believers involved in supporting Fairy Box Internationally. This is also the year when we can at last, officially bring the charity down into England and Wales and I am really looking forward to spreading this special magic…

We will be including a link here to our JUST GIVING page that we’ve set up through www.idobelieve.co.uk where anyone can contribute and we would be truly thrilled if you did! You can even link to this special page from your own web sites, Facebook and MySpace sites too, or set up your own one – THANK YOU Enchanted Folk.

If anyone has any questions, ideas or thoughts, please just message me here on the Fairy Box profile and I will do all I can to help you. This is a cause that I passionately believe in and having recently been amongst many, many children who are so poorly and seen the joy that this magical charity gives to these young people and those who care for them, I am constantly inspired to do as much as I possibly can…

Thank you Always, dear EF community for your Belief, and listening to my plea, Your friend, Be

This has been written by the Fairy Box founder, Rosie Butler and explains perfectly how this special charity makes magic happen…

“Sitting by the bedside of an ill child in hospital, holding them close whilst knowing that the treatment they need to get them better may hurt them even more is a parent’s nightmare. It’s bad enough when they need treatment for everyday bugs, or common ailments like tonsillitis, let alone when they have had a serious accident, or are struck down by a life threatening disease like cancer.

Such difficult moments can affect any one of us or our children at any time and suddenly we realise just how precious they are to us – and that the skills needed to make them well again lie not in our hands but in the hands of the doctors and nurses looking after them.

Fairy Box exists to help children through the difficult and often upsetting times they can face in hospital: it is a custom made wooden gift box full of today’s most popular toys and games which they can choose from and keep, and so move their focus away from the upset they feel. The idea for Fairy Box came from long spells in hospital endured by one little girl as she bravely underwent numerous cancer treatments over the years to overcome childhood leukaemia. For such a long time Aimee Butler’s life was dwarfed by a different mountain every day, her physical and emotional pain so deep that no sound could ever give it voice, and a struggle to find a reason to get through each day was a search seemingly without end.

Her escape from such dreadful days and nights was to be found in countless flights of fantasy, fuelled by hundreds upon hundreds of tales of other hidden worlds filled with fairies, of enchanted and magical beings who fought against but always overcame the darkest of deeds which life threw their way, often several times over. As word spread of Aimee’s love of faery, talented and intuitive fairy artists, writers, and enthusiasts from around the globe lovingly and trustingly shared with Aimee their own shimmering and powerful fairy imagery through gifts, books, and pictures. Together they breathed new life into Aimee’s fairy world creating a much-needed lifeline through a painful world that would daunt many an adult.

Based on Aimee’s experience, an innovative charitable campaign subsequently opened the way for a new channel of goodwill and support to reach children in hospital – this special gift box exists for that very moment when they need some extra comfort and cheer which magically helps them move forward.

Throughout all that Aimee – now twelve - has endured she retains an acute awareness of how other ill children struggle to cope and has a very deep desire to help others get through another day and to get better. The Fairy Box charity is a worthy tribute to this extraordinary young lady with a growing band of well wishers and supporters, touched by Aimee’s story and looking for a way to comfort an ill, distressed or frightened child just as if they were one of their own. Hundreds of children across Scotland in the UK are already benefiting from a Fairy Box on their hospital ward. Soon other Fairy Boxes will appear in England and Wales and the idea is to be emulated in the USA and across the World.”

To find out more about this extraordinary charity, you can visit www.fairybox.org or e mail Rosie: fairies@fairybox.org

or contact me, Be, here on this EF Fairy Box profile with a message or comment.