Just before Christmas, striker Cole Stockton chose to auction his winning Sky Bet League Two Play-Off Final shirt in an attempt to raise money for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
The reason behind wanting to raise money for Alder Hey was simple, to give back to the hospital that helped Cole when he was 11-years-old and suffering from septicaemia.
So with the auction underway, members of the Shrimps Trust called on the fans of Morecambe to play their part, and Paul Hodgson and Joanna Wilkinson setting up a GoFundMe page with the aim of raising as much money as possible to win the shirt.
That’s exactly what happened.
119 donations from Shrimps supporters saw them raise a staggering £1,500 which has since been donated to Alder Hey, and on Monday, Cole was presented with the cheque and in turn, he presented the Trust with his shirt.
On receiving the money for the charity, Cole said: “I am delighted that we could raise as much money as we did for a charity that means a lot to me, they helped me overcome an illness when I was younger and I have always wanted to give back as much as I can.
“I would like to thank Paul and Joanna for setting up the GoFundMe page, their work in trying to secure donations has not gone unnoticed and I honestly cannot thank them enough.”
Paul Hodgson from the Shrimps Trust added: “When I saw the tweet, I wanted to make sure that we tried to play our part and help our striker raise as much money as he possibly could.
“Cole has been fantastic for us during his three spells at the Club, we have done campaigns like this before, where we have raised money to pay for a fine etc, so we wanted to play our part again.
“I would like to thank all the 119 people that donated, it once again underlines how fantastic our supporters are.”