DREAMS came true today for one locally-based charity. Many may not have heard of its name, or know about its fantastic services for vulnerable children and young people in Norfolk.

But, thanks to kind-hearted EDP readers, Aviva and Norwich City Football Club, The Benjamin Foundation will reach out to thousands of Norwich City fans - and potential benefactors - when its name replaces the Aviva logo on the Canaries shirts for the Doncaster Rovers match on October 25.

The North Walsham-based charity edged-out four other good causes to win the Community Chest Challenge and the coveted top prize of full sponsorship for a Norwich City match.

Earlier this month, Aviva, proud sponsors of Norwich City Football Club, asked the community of Norfolk and Norwich to collect tokens for their chosen local charity to help it win excellent exposure and support.

The community rallied behind a shortlist, which included Nelson's Journey, Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind, Big C and East Anglia's Children's Hospices.

Each of the charities would make worthy winners, but The Benjamin Foundation captured the most votes, to the real surprise and delight of its founder and Chief Executive, Richard Draper.

Richard set up the charity in 1992 in honour of his son, Ben, who died in a motorcycle accident at the age of 17 and has gone on to help hundreds of youngsters coping with bereavement, abuse or living on their own after being brought up in care.

It has two hostels to offer accommodation and support, and has counsellors working in Norfolk schools and at drop-in centres.

"We are absolutely amazed at winning this initiative - for a local Norfolk charity to get this level of recognition is phenomenal," he said.

"It will provide us a fantastic platform on which to build our next three to five years planned growth. As a charity we have some exciting initiatives planned for this period and this is a fantastic opportunity to continue to raise our profile.

"We would like to give enormous thanks to people who made such an effort to collect tokens for The Benjamin Foundation, and we know there were many.

"The members of the community who collected tokens for us have shown remarkable support for our charity, not only did they have to collect the tokens but they made the effort to post or deliver their votes to the EDP offices. Special thanks to the wonderful staff at Sainsbury's in North Walsham who made a strong collective effort to encourage staff and shoppers to collect tokens for our wonderful charity.

"This initiative has recognised how important the Football Club and the sponsors of the Football Club are to our local community. The response from the public has been great and is a true representation of the standing of the club in the community."

Lee Sparkes, Sponsorship Manager, of Aviva said: "A large part of our decision to become Norwich City's main Club sponsor was the opportunity it would give us to demonstrate our strong commitment to Norwich and the wider Norfolk community including showing support for local charities.

"This initiative directly involved the community and gave them a platform to show their appreciation for those often unsung heroes who make such a big difference in our region. We were overwhelmed by the community's support for both the initiative and the charities involved."

NCFC Community Ambassador Jeremy Goss said: "We are delighted for The Benjamin Foundation, as they do such great work with young people and we hope that this initiative will help them in this work. All the charities involved are as deserving and I'm sure the public who voted in the Community Chest Challenge had great difficulty in selecting a final winner. We look forward to welcoming The Benjamin Foundation to Carrow Road for the Doncaster game for what should be a great day."

In recognition of the loyal EDP readers who actively supported the campaign and to benefit the charities that participated Aviva has donated £1,000 to each of the four runner-up charities.

These are East Anglian Children's Hospices, which works with children through its hospices at Quidenham; Nelson's Journey, which supports children and young people who have experienced the death of a significant person in their life; Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind, which helps 20,000 blind and partially sighted people in the county, and Big C, which supports cancer patients in Norfolk and Waveney.

EDP deputy editor Pete Waters said: "The EDP has been delighted to work with Aviva on their very generous offer of giving up their sponsorship of Norwich City for a day.

"I hope that all the charities who took part will get some benefit from their promotion in the EDP but the Benjamin Foundation are very worthy and deserving winner, providing invaluable support for young people desperately in need of help through no fault of their own."

Mr Waters added: "It says a lot about EDP readers that they've responded so well to the Community Chest competition. There was no prize for taking part, and they had to go out of their way to be involved, either by taking the vouchers to the EDP's offices or sending them to us. I think that's testament to the big-hearted spirit of our readers."

The Benjamin Foundation will have its branding on the Norwich City shirts for the Doncaster game on October 25. It will also have the use of the Aviva executive box for the match, conduct a matchday collection among the fans and receive the proceeds of an auction of the player's shirts after the game.

Photograph courtesy of Eastern Daily Press