Arcade staff give Arna new chair

BY TOBY PORTER
toby@slpmedia.co.uk

Staff and amusement arcade regulars helped raise hundreds of pounds to give new freedom to a six-year-old who suffers from cerebral palsy.

Arna Saha has been presented with a new powered wheelchair that will enable her to enjoy a great deal more independence, thanks to the joint fundraising efforts of customers and staff at Cashino Streatham.

The company is one of the main fundraisers for CHIPS, a charity set up on behalf of the casino and gaming industry, which aims to provide specialised powered wheelchairs for children with severe mobility problems.

Arna relies on carers for all her daily activities so her parents, Indrajit and Sampa, said: “We cannot be more thankful to Cashino for this amazing gift and the opportunities it gives Arna.

“This wheelchair will give her so much more independence, and with further help from us, she will be able to engage far more with her environment.

“Although Arna has no verbal communication skills, she has been developing communication through switches and a joy stick using a computer and communications board. This, plus the wheelchair, will really help both her and us improve her life as much as we can.”

Cashino Streatham’s venue manager, Anna Pasiecznik , said: “It’s so rewarding to know that our fundraising efforts are going to make such a huge difference to Arna and her family’s life . She is such a lovely, friendly girl who thoroughly deserves this wheelchair.”

Co-founder of the CHIPS charity, Linda Lindsay, said: “It is so important for CHIPS that our donors see the results of their hard work, and we try to ensure that all the recipients are local to where the funds have been raised.

“Cashino and parent company Praesepe have been amazing, and to date have donated £820,000, allowing CHIPS to provide more than 130 powered wheelchairs up and down the country.”

In total, CHIPS has raised around £2million and presented around 500 wheelchairs to children throughout the UK.