A community raffle has been organised by Morrisons supermarket in Abergavenny to raise funds to help support Rhys Langford’s fundraising efforts for Jacob Jones.

Last week we told how teenager Rhys Langford set up a fundraising page to raise money for Jacob Jones fight against Neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancer that mostly affects babies and young children.

Rhys himself is severely ill with Osteosarcoma, a cancer which starts in the bones, and decided to start the fundraising page after generously donating £1,000 of his own life savings to Jacob’s battle with cancer.

Both Rhys and Jacob are from Ebbw Vale, and Rhys’ fundraising page has so far raised an incredible amount of over £60,000 from around 3,000 donations.

With several Morrisons staff members knowing Rhys and Jacob personally, they have decided to reach out to the community to help raise vital funds to support Rhys in his fundraising for Jacob.

Speaking to the Chronicle, Morrisons Customer Service Manager Amy Sims said: “We have all been moved by Rhys’ incredible fundraising efforts to help Jacob and decided that we wanted to do our bit to help the boys.

“We have a colleague in store called Caiden who is best friends with Rhys, and Jacob is grandson of a colleague in the bakery. We have a very close team in Morrisons Abergavenny so myself and Claire put our heads together to think of ideas on how to help raise some money. We instantly did a colleague raffle and donations which has raised over £200 already, then we thought about going further which involved the local community.”

Since revealing their plans online, Amy and her colleagues have been inundated with support from local businesses who have kindly contributed to the raffle.

Prizes in the raffle include vouchers to use at local restaurants Casa Bianca and Portico Lounge, a hamper from Braces Bakery and a round of golf for four people at Woodlake Park Golf Club.

Other local businesses contributing to the raffle include Feodora Hair and Beauty, Gwalt Hair Salon, La Crème Patisserie and Millies Cupcakes as well as many more businesses from the surrounding area.

Amy and her colleagues have been overwhelmed by the support so far and hope to continue adding to the raffle to help raise more money for Rhys and Jacob.

She added: “We have had a massive response from businesses all over Cwmbran, Abergavenny and Ebbw Vale all contributing towards the local raffle, and would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported the raffle.

“Our aim is to raise £1,000 to give to this very sad cause, and we will continue to do anything and everything we can to help and support.”

Tickets for the community raffle are available to purchase at the customer service desk at Morrisons supermarket in Abergavenny. Tickets are being sold at £2.50 a ticket or £10 for a row.

To support and donate to Rhys’ fundraising efforts please visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/rhyss-dying-wish-to-help-jacob-fight-again