A charity that supports children with life-limiting conditions has had to clear up a misunderstanding after receiving an “abusive” message.
Arlo’s Adventure received a message accusing it of “preying on vulnerable people who have lost children by asking them for money”.
The charity said: “This is not something we would do and there seems to have been some kind of misunderstanding somewhere along the line.”
‘Incredibly sad’
The charity is run by small team of five people, all of whom have families and are have jobs alongside running the charity.
Volunteers run the charity in their spare time and are not paid for what they do.
Arlo’s Adventure has helped hundreds of families since its was started 6 years ago, the charity said “to be called ‘vultures’ is incredibly sad”.
Adding: “We never want praise or recognition for what we do, but we certainly don’t need abuse.”
Misunderstanding
The charity said: “We have an inkling that this misunderstanding may have come from us setting up our petal release event which you ‘buy’ tickets for.
“We would just like to clarify that the tickets are completely free and this is just another way to gauge how many people may show and for them to share their little ones names with us.
“They also mentioned us giving money to Manx Care, so we wanted to clarify that we are completely separate to Manx Care. Any items bought for the neonatal unit at Nobles Hospital are done by way of donation or distribution from the charity so to provide further comfort to families.”
The charity wanted to “clear up any misunderstandings before untruths are spread”.
Arlo’s Adventure
Arlo’s Adventure helps local families with travel and accommodation costs when they need to go to the UK for medical treatment.
It also supports those affected by the loss of a child or pregnancy.