Forever Stars, a Nottingham-based baby loss charity set up by Chilwell couple Michelle and Richard Daniels, has reached a huge fundraising milestone by raising over £250,000 since their daughter Emily was stillborn in December 2013.

Throughout October, Forever Stars have been promoting their #TalkAboutThem campaign as part of their contribution to the baby loss awareness initiatives which have been taking place across the world during October.

The charity’s October awareness fundraising activities were wrapped up with a Halloween Gala Dinner which took place at the Village Hotel in Nottingham on October 27th. It was at this event that Richard announced that the charity had passed the £250,000 milestone.

Richard Daniels, co-founder of Forever Stars, stated that “This October, lots of people have been working hard to raise money for Forever Stars whilst at the same time helping break the silence about baby loss. We believe it is hugely important that family and friends of baby loss families feel comfortable and able to discuss such a devastating loss to ensure that bereaved families don’t feel like they are alone. When Michelle and I started Forever Stars, we aimed to raise £25,000, so to have raised ten times that amount before we reach what would have been Emily’s 4th birthday is staggering, and a testament to the wonderful and generous people who are following our journey.”

Since January 2014, Forever Stars has funded a bereavement suite at the Queen’s Medical Centre, support materials for bereaved families, and bereavement training for NUH Midwives. Later in 2017 they will be opening a second Serenity Suite, which will be located at the City Hospital in Nottingham, as well as funding a counsellor for bereaved siblings in a baby loss family. And it appears that the charity has no plans to slow down!

Michelle Daniels, co-founder of Forever Stars, said: “We never expected to be in this position so quickly after starting Forever Stars, but with every project we complete, we find another one that needs to be started in order to help more families. In January we are launching our biggest project to date, and we really hope that as many people will get on board with us; whilst I can’t give too much away, it’s going to be something that everyone can use but will bring a huge amount of comfort for bereaved baby loss families.”