A GOREY beach café’s annual fish finger sandwich fundraiser – which was started in memory of a beloved family member – has raised almost £50,000 for local charities.
Each year Rhona’s at the Beach chooses a local charity to benefit from the proceeds of sales of its fish finger sandwiches and cake.
Rhona Hewit, who runs the café, started the initiative after she lost her nephew to suicide, leading her to raise money for the now-closed Jersey Recovery College.
Ms Hewit, who won the Community Champion of the Year category at the 2023 Pride of Jersey Awards, recently announced that the total amount raised for various charities over the years had passed £48,000.
And she hopes to reach £50,000 by her birthday in March.
Last year, Motor Neurone Disease Association Jersey was selected as the café’s charity partner, with £8,000 raised for their work supporting Islanders and families affected by the incurable neurological condition.
Announcing her choice for 2025, disability charity Enable Jersey, Ms Hewitt said she hoped to beat that figure and support what she called a “great little charity”.
She said: “Enable Jersey is a pan-disability charity, so it deals with people with any disability and it enables them to get the support that they need. They just help people lead better lives; they are a great little charity.”
Ms Hewit also sells unwanted gifts and Christmas chocolates at her café throughout January in aid of her chosen charity.
Commenting on almost reaching £50,000 in total fundraising, she said: “As soon as we raise a total of £500, we send it to charity, so it adds up slowly, and you don’t really see it, but suddenly it’s £50,000, which is an enormous amount of money and it’s just great for local charities.”
Ms Hewit added that she would not have been able to achieve this without the support from the Island’s community.
“I have the utmost respect for the public, and I will never ever let that go, because without their support I couldn’t do this,” she said.
