Genting fundraising campaign helps disabled youngster

Genting’s Palm Beach Casino has led a fundraising campaign to raise more than £35,000 across more than three years, with some of the funds providing a motorised wheelchair for a youngster.

Twelve-year-old Archie Ripley, from Ashford in Kent, UK, who has congenital myopathy, a form of muscular dystrophy, and chromosome imbalance, was one of several young people to benefit as he received a motorised wheelchair worth £9,000.

The donation was made through CHIPS, the casino industry’s charity, which uses its funds to provide extra support to young people in the UK who are unable to obtain a powered wheelchair from the NHS and Wheelchair Services and whose parents cannot afford to fund the chairs themselves.

Sam, Archie’s mother, said the wheelchair has been “life-changing” and that Archie is now “able to do more things independently.”

Andrew Henderson, Genting’s director of operations for London and the South, added: “A powered wheelchair makes a huge difference for a disabled child, giving them independence and mobility, and it was lovely to see how much it means to his whole family.”