A dad who made headlines with his appeal for specific blue Tommee Tippee cups for his son with autism, has set up a global project to help find items that are precious to kids.
Marc Carter, from Devon, who managed to get 500 of the discontinued cups made by the brand for his 14-year-old son Ben after the online appeal, set up the ‘Little Blue Cup’ project to “pay the internet back”.
He now helps find treasured items for children with disabilities or any additional needs, after his “small request got the most incredible response”.
“This is my little tiny way,” he wrote on Facebook about the campaign.
“If you care for someone with disabilities or special needs and they need a cup, bottle or anything else, something small that keeps them happy, healthy and from having the most challenging times, please let me know and we will search the Internet together.”
The campaign was set up on Facebook earlier in 2017 and has recently gathered momentum. The page now boasts more than 15,000 followers.
Carter explained the campaign wasn’t about items of real value - like computers or TVs - but small items that mean so much to some children.
Carter’s son Ben had drunk exclusively from one cup since the age of two, so when the cup needed replacing and Carter discovered Tommee Tippe had stopped making that design he was at a loss as to what to do.
“People say he will drink when he’s thirsty, but two emergency trips to A&E with severe dehydration say otherwise,” he said at the time, underlining the severity of the situation.
Now, the appeals and stories of children who are in need of a similarly vital possession are shared on the project’s Facebook page.
One of the most recent success stories was for 10-year-old Kye from Staffordshire, who was filmed being reunited with his toy.
“Kye had lost his special friend – Doggy Woof-Woof – a green dog made by Tommee Tippee many years ago,” reads the Facebook message posted on 16 November..
“Tommee Tippee had forgotten they even made soft toys so couldn’t help us, and we really thought the search would go nowhere.
“Until someone stepped forward with exactly what Kye needed.”
Another appeal was for a cuddly Santa toy, bought from Wilkinsons in 2013. Four-year-old Travis from Wales, who has autism and sensory processing disorder, had recently lost it and wasn’t able to sleep without it.
Thankfully, someone in the comments shared a photo of the exact Santa toy and offered to send it to Travis.
You can read all the success stories and find out what appeals there are on the Little Blue Cup Facebook page here.