05-07-2025
When you're touched by our stories, you give generously. Thank you
It was a normal Sunday morning in March and Alice Shaw, 41, from Guildford, Surrey, was scrolling through her Sunday Times app, when she clicked on an article by the journalist James Coney about his son Charlie and his family's struggle to find a diagnosis for Charlie's rare condition.
'It was completely gripping, really. I just felt it gave an amazing viewpoint,' says Shaw. Charlie was eventually diagnosed with ReNU syndrome and is supported by the charity Challengers, which is a playgroup for disabled children.
• My son Charlie — and the breakthrough that changed our lives
The article struck a chord with Shaw, who is a mother of two boys, one of whom is deaf. 'I gave Challengers a call and said, 'Can I fundraise for you?'' she says. 'They welcomed me with open arms.'
Shaw already had a place to run the London Marathon, and quickly managed to fundraise £1,400 for Challengers, a Guildford-based charity she said she had passed many times without knowing what it did. 'They really brought me into their fundraising fold.'
Shaw's generosity is not unique. Our journalists receive dozens of emails and messages from readers touched by stories in The Sunday Times. Many go on to donate significant sums to the causes highlighted by our journalism. Today, we are sharing some of these stories.
In April, we covered the marathon challenge of Leodhais Macpherson, whose aim was to run a marathon a day, every day for 128 days — the distance from Newcastle to New York — in memory of his brother, who took his own life. He was raising money for the mental health charity If U Care Share and the RNLI. Readers flooded his Just Giving page to donate.
Macpherson says, 'You could see the immediate impact from the moment the article was published — it made a massive difference.' In just 24 hours, his donation page received £5,000, including two donations of £500 from Sunday Times readers.
A Sunday Times reader, Karen Korn, was among the top donors, giving £500. 'I've just read the article in The Sunday Times and was so moved by it,' she wrote. 'Good luck to you — you'll make it! I'm sure.' One reader named Mike, who donated £100 the day after the article was published, wrote, 'I lost my twin brother to suicide almost 20 years ago, seeing you do this is hard but I'm proud of you. I support you. You are not alone. Thank you.'
Macpherson, 24, completed his challenge on June 2, which would have been his brother's 28th birthday and raised £55,513. He proposed to his fiancée on the finish line.
Like most newspapers, The Times and Sunday Times hold an annual Christmas appeal for readers to donate to chosen charities. But throughout the year, these spontaneous bursts of generosity emerge in response to stories of individuals struggling courageously through tragedy and tribulation.
In February, The Sunday Times highlighted the plight of Siobhan Halliwell who is forced to sleep on the floor, propped up against a wall or a chest of drawers, most nights because she doesn't have the medical bed she needs. The 26-year-old and her brother were left disabled by the drug sodium valproate, which their mother took during pregnancy. We are campaigning for victims to have compensation so that equipment such as the beds Siobhan needs can be provided without delay.
Following that story in February, three Sunday Times readers, one from as far away as South Africa, contacted the paper offering to fund the cost of both beds. Two were successful business owners, and one was motivated by the memory of a sister who had also needed care.
One, who wished to remain anonymous, said: 'It should be the responsibility of the NHS but reading the article it was clear the family needed help now and I was in a position to do it. I was very happy to do so.'
Although the readers chose to remain anonymous they were keen to support the Halliwells and two went ahead to donate the full £5,000 cost for the beds to be provided privately.
'We feel extremely grateful to the people who donated,' says Siobhan's mother, Paula Halliwell. 'Being able to get our children their beds will make a huge difference to their lives. There is also some money left over to get Siobhan a four-wheeled walker, which she needs to help her get out due to her increased difficulties.'
On June 1, we also featured the story of Teddington-based non-profit Mighty Convoy, which delivers ambulances filled with medical aid from London to Ukraine, driven there by hardy volunteers.
'The reaction to The Sunday Times article was phenomenal, even before my paper had landed through my letterbox I had messages coming in because people had seen it online,' says Simon Brake, the founder of Mighty Convoy. 'I reckon in the first 24 hours we had 25 people contact us to say they were really interested in driving.'
Also within the first 24 hours, Brake says they received £8,000 in direct donations. 'It was an overwhelming response,' he says. 'We're now over £20,000 and have had over 40 emails or inquiries. It's been amazing.'
The money donated by readers will pay for three ambulances, which Brake is in the process of securing for future convoys to Ukraine.
Brake says that the chance to help a local, small non-profit like Mighty Convoy is part of the appeal for readers and has cropped up in several emails from Sunday Times readers.
'People have donated to some of the bigger Ukraine charities, but the idea that they could actually do something directly: fundraise from their network and drive the vehicle and take it to Ukraine — I think has inspired a lot of people.'
Shaw, too, says that Challengers being 'a small local charity that doesn't always get exposure' drove her to help. 'Isn't it great?' says Shaw. 'You think most people would just read and move on. But it really does have an impact.'
