Elgin girl (12) born with rare condition raises almost £13,000 for The Archie Foundation
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A 12-year-old girl from Elgin has raised nearly £13,000 for charity with her biggest fundraiser to date.
Lucy Stewart came up with the idea for a charity ice hockey match after watching her dad and brother play for the RAF Lossiemouth Jets.
The initial idea snowballed and after a manic couple of months planning, a team from the Jets took on the Aberdeen Predators on August 26 at the Linx Ice Arena in Aberdeen.
The match ended 7-5 to the Jets and, more importantly, a magnificent £12,875 was raised for The Archie Foundation after more than 800 people turned out for the match.
Claire Stewart, Lucy's mum, said: "We were expecting to raise a couple hundred pounds to be honest but in the end we've raised nearly £13,000.
"Lucy was at the door with the programmes and welcoming everybody in. We were inside and we realised it was just getting busier and busier. There were so many people.
"We're so proud but it wouldn't have been possible without everybody's help. People we didn't even know helped out so we're so thankful.
"We cannot put into words how much we appreciate everyone's help throughout the organising of the game and the volunteers who kept it all going when I was panicked and stressed.
"I really couldn't ask for a better group of people to be part of our lives."
Lucy was born with the upper part of her oesophagus detached from the lower part meaning food could not reach her stomach.
She still experiences problems related to the condition to this day despite corrective surgery being carried out when she was just a day old.
The Archie Foundation has supported her for more than a decade and Lucy has made it her mission to give back in any way she can.
Claire added: "Over the last 10 years, through various other fundraisers, Lucy has raised between £8,000 and £10,000 for charity so it's been incredible to raise this much for just one fundraiser.
"She's already talking about next year. Literally a few days after the match she was talking about that.
"This year came together pretty quickly but she's talking about planning for next year already."
