A selfless five-year-old boy has donated 70 Easter eggs to doctors and nurses on the frontline.
Little Jacob Garratt enjoyed donating selection boxes to his local hospital over Christmas and wanted to do the same with Easter eggs.
Since the start of February, the determined lad has collected chocolate eggs from friends, family and members of New Song Kids – a church in Warrington which he is a member of.
On Tuesday (March 24), 70 eggs were delivered to Whiston hospital in Lancs. The family were unaffected by the UK-wide lockdown introduced on Monday night (March 23) as they had arranged the drop-off date in advance.
His mum Sarah, 32, dad Darren were overwhelmed at Jacob’s generosity.
She said: “We are bursting with pride – we are so so proud of him and the fact he is helping others.”
The family regularly donates unwanted tins and packets to their local food bank and Jacob began asking questions on the reasons why.
Sarah added: “He is a very inquisitive little boy. He just wants to know everything.
“Once I explained to him that some people cannot afford to buy food in the shops to feed their families and have to rely on people giving, he asked whether the family could open a food bank or a toy bank.
“He said, ‘I’ve got loads of toys, can we set up a toy bank?’.”
Originally, Jacob planned to donate the eggs to children who will be spending Easter in hospital.
But as some of the mums and dads of his friends at Sherdley Primary School work in critical care, he decided to share his eggs with doctors and nurses.
The mum-of-three said: “It was so unexpected – it was completely out of the blue. I was taken aback by it.”
Sarah said the family does not make a habit of watching the news together. But it’s on in the background and Jacob is aware of the challenges nurses and doctors face daily.
She said: “He doesn’t know about the whole ins and outs of the coronavirus but he does know that doctors and nurses are risking their lives on the frontline looking after people who are incredibly poorly.
“He is constantly thinking about other people and he wants to do his bit, knowing it’ll go quite a way.”
Whiston hospital staff were incredibly grateful at the generosity of Jacob.
Sarah added: “They were completely overwhelmed by the whole occasion.
“One lady who works at the hospital even posted a picture on Instagram of Jacob with his bundles of Easter eggs.”
Whiston hospital, part of the Whiston and St Helens Hospitals’ Charity, thanked Jacob for his smile and said that his kindness ‘made their day’ in a tweet on Tuesday (March 24).
Considerate Jacob said he loved giving away the eggs.
He said: “It made me really happy.
I want take sweets for Halloween because at Halloween those in hospital will not have sweets.
“I want to take sweets to other hospitals too.”
When he is not giving to others, Jacob is a normal five-year-old.
His parents are making sure he is keeping up with his reading and writing, keeping him on track before he goes back to school – whenever that may be.
Sarah added: “He is loving life – making the most of the great weather we are currently enjoying. The sun is shining – it is sunny – and he is running around the back garden.”