A woman who won over £3,000 at the races is using it to donate toys to sick kids at Christmas.
CJ Cooper, 23, won £3,400 on various races at a Cheltenham race meet this month.
She won the huge sum at the festival but decided to donate her winnings after ‘not knowing what to spend the money on’ apart from family.
The presents are now filling ‘an entire room’ in her house, and will be donated to Chestnut Tree House, a children’s hospice in Sussex.
CJ, from Henfield, West Sussex, has also set up an appeal asking members of the public to donate presents.
She said: “I didn’t know what to do with my winnings, and then a leaflet came through my door for a hospice so I brought some presents to them.
“It is tough thinking about the children in hospices and at hospital and what they are going through, especially at Christmas when they should be celebrating it at home with their families.
“There are so many children out there that are not blessed to have good health and Christmas presents.
“By doing something like this it helps the parents that don’t have the time or the money to go and buy the presents as they are looking after their children.
”This is a way of trying to give them all a bit of joy at Christmas.”
CJ, a football coach, will also carry out a silent auction to raise money for more toys which will be donated to the hospice as well as the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton.
Since advertising her campaign on social media, she says she has been sent hundreds presents to donate from members of the public.
She’s also been given prizes from the horse racing community to be used in a silent auction.
Prizes included tickets for a Cheltenham meet in January, prints of race winners and jockey’s caps and silks.
The silent auction has already raised a staggering £1,865 in less than 24 hours, and all money raised will be donated to buy even more presents for sick children.
CJ said: “It is good that it has started a month early and we are already filling one of the bedroom up in my house with toys.
“The racing community online have been absolutely fantastic as ever and once again they have already excelled themselves in getting behind this for those less fortunate.
“I only started the auction last night at 7pm and it’s already gotten so much money. I’ve still got more stuff to put on, but even if it stopped here I’d be happy with the amount we’ve raised.”
You can find out more about donating and accessing the silent auction on CJ’s twitter, @CJRacingUK.
