5% of sales (excluding VAT) from the Faith, Hope and Charity range are to be split between five charities; Acorn Children's Hospice, Downside Up, The Down Syndrome Educational Trust, KIDS and the Bulgarian Abandoned Children's Trust.

I have close personal ties and involvement with these charities. KIDS enhances the lives of disabled children and their families, by providing them with playgrounds, play schemes, family support, education and home learning. KIDS helped me enormously when my daughter Domenica was born. I received the home learning service, and it transformed my life. The early days are very difficult when you have a child with a disability, and the professional help and compassionate advice that I was given still resonate 12 years later.

The Down Syndrome Educational Trust is based in Portsmouth. It advances understanding of Down Syndrome through research, and provides information, training and services to promote the development of children with Down Syndrome. It was founded by Sue Buckley, who adopted a girl with Down Syndrome over 30 years ago.

I have received invaluable advice from them on Domenica's education, through primary school and now in secondary school. One thing that is hard to accept once you become the parent of a child with a disability, is that every step of the way is such a fight to get what is right for your child. Organisations such as this are a real lifeline for parents.

Downside Up improves the quality of Russian children who have Down Syndrome. 70% of children born with Down Syndrome in Moscow go into orphanages. And of that 70% over 10% will die before they are 3 – from neglect. Downside Up provides an early intervention and integration centre in Moscow. They also help, advise, inform, train and educate parents, while working closely with state officials and medical professionals throughout Russia. There is huge work still to be done.

The Acorns Children's Hospice care for life limited children and their families in the heart of England. They have 3 hospices, and the work they do is extraordinary. The dedication and compassion of the staff, and the determination and vision of the management team, contribute to the atmosphere of peace, acceptance and hope that moves me each time I visit. None of us know how we would cope in this situation, or how we would survive with a child who required 24 hour care. Acorns provide the haven, the respite and the professional care that these families so desperately need.

The Bulgarian Abandoned Children's Trust has been set up to help the poor disabled children in Bulgaria who are incarcerated in institutions in utterly inhuman conditions. These children never see sunlight, have no stimulation whatsoever, and gradually go mad through absolute neglect.

Every little bit of money will help. As my business grows, so will the contribution that you are all making. I will up date my website regularly with news from the charities so that you can see for yourselves that you have made a difference.