T-Rex and gorilla help raise a monster £1,000 for Acorns charity
A fundraising Dudley family has raised over £1,000 for Acorns children's hospice with a little help from a T-Rex, a stegosaurus and a gorilla.
Jake Pearson started collecting the gigantic figures after buying a life-sized dinosaur in an auction. Passers-by instantly became obsessed with the statues, with some even stopping to take selfies.
Mr Pearson, with the help of his daughter Michelle, started the fundraiser after adding a donation box to the figures where people can give as much or as little as they liked.
Michelle said: "My father has been collecting ever since my mom passed away in 2016 from cancer. It has been going really well, it's only been pennies really but people have been very generous.
"This money was all donated by pedestrians, that's what is so special, is that this is all done by people just giving as much as they could to help a charity."
Mr Pearson, who is partially deaf started the fundraiser after his wife Eileen passed away after falling ill with cancer, ever since then he has been donating to various causes.
Michelle continued: "He just decided that he needed to do something really, and he had these figures around that were getting people's attention.
"The dinosaur has been there since before my mother passed away and people have always loved it, so we thought why not buy the gorilla and see if people will donate to it."
The father and daughter duo raised around £1,000 in spare change that passers-by generously donated, with Michelle saying "it was a bit of a task to count it all out".
Michelle added: "The last figure that we bought was a huge electronic T-Rex that growls when you walk past it. It terrified my granddaughter but it is amusing to watch and people really do love it.
"Acorns said that they really appreciate the donation and that it will be used for all sorts of great things. We just hope that it will brighten a child's day. We can't save the world but we can save as many as we can."
