An appeal to give Leicester and the East Midlands its first dedicated children’s hospital has been boosted by a £12,500 donation from a Leicester based knitwear manufacturer.

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, Mars Knitwear was quick to respond to the growing demand for protective, comfortable, eco-friendly face masks and through a seamless manufacturing process, they developed high quality, anti-microbial, re-usable face masks to be sold on-line. The anti-bacterial and washable masks are made in the UK using natural materials, available in 40 different colour combinations.

After hearing about the Leicester Children’s Hospital Appeal to create a dedicated Children’s Hospital on the site of the Leicester Royal Infirmary, Mars Knitwear agreed to pledge 10% of all on-line mask sales to the Appeal and this week presented Leicester Hospitals Charity with a cheque for £12,500.

Technical Director Keith Cummings says the company saw an opportunity to adapt their business in the new climate and at the same time support their local community.

“With the impact of the pandemic, we started working on the masks about two or three weeks before anyone even asked for them,” explains Keith. “We saw there would be a need for them and it just took off from there. A lot of work went into designing them but we are very pleased with the result. Each mask has a soft, anti-bacterial fibre in the lining and we also paid special attention to the tension of the straps to make them as comfortable as possible around the ears so they don’t pull.”

Managing Director Said Saleh said the company wanted to pledge a percentage of the sales of the masks to a cause that they felt lay at the core of their community.

“We felt we needed to give something back to the hospitals” says Said. “We saw that there was a tremendous amount of donations going towards COVID relief but there was a new children’s hospital being built on our doorstep which was also in urgent need of our help. Mars Knitwear has been trading in Leicester for over 30 years so we wanted to support our local hospital.

“We believe charity begins at home. Our children, our grandchildren and even our great-grandchildren will, at some point in their lives, use this state-of-the-art children’s hospital and it is something we should all be proud of. I believe every local business should support this project in whatever they can.”

Louise Jones, Major Giving Manager at Leicester Hospitals Charity thanked the team at Mars Knitwear for their support of the Appeal. “We’re so grateful to Said, Keith and everyone at Mars Knitwear for showing their support for the Leicester Children’s Hospital Appeal at this time” says Louise.

“This is a wonderful example of how a local business is adapting to the challenges we are all facing in light of the pandemic but choosing to support their community too. On behalf of everyone at the charity and all those involved in working so hard to give our city the state-of-the-art children’s hospital it deserves, we’d like to thank Mars Knitwear and everyone who has contributed to this donation by purchasing a mask.”

Masks can be ordered directly from Mars Knitwear online at www.MarsKnitwear.com with 10% of all purchases going to the Leicester Children’s Hospital Appeal.

The £7.5m Leicester Children’s Hospital Appeal will help support the first phase of creating a new, dedicated Children’s Hospital at the Leicester Royal Infirmary where all children’s services will be together under one roof. If you want to contribute to our Appeal for a dedicated children’s hospital in Leicester please visit DoThemProud.com to donate, sign up as a supporter or learn more about the Appeal, or you can follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/DoThemProud and help spread the word on social media using #DoThemProud.