THIS morning representatives of Community Chest Challenge winners EACH and the Canaries' Main Club Sponsors Aviva met the press to speak about what the initiative meant to them.

Aviva have once again given up the right to have their name on City's shirts when the Canaries take on Tranmere at Carrow Road - and the logo of East Anglian Children's Hospices will have pride of place on the chests of Paul Lambert's players as they take to the pitch after they were the charity chosen from a list of worth causes by Eastern Daily Press readers.

EACH have a hospice at Quidenham in Norfolk and their Chief Executive Graham Butland said: "As a local Norfolk charity we are absolutely thrilled to be offered this wonderful opportunity by Aviva, Norwich City and the EDP.

"We would like to thank the public who voted EACH at Quidenham as their prefered charity - without their support this dream would never have become a reality."

There will be a ground collection for EACH at Carrow Road before the match and the players' shirts will be auctioned off to raise more cash for the charity after the game.

Mr Butland added: "We rely heavily upon voluntary income to run our services and see this is as a unique opportunity to raise some fantastic awareness of our charity as well as some much-need funding.

"To be invited to do a fund-raising collection around the ground, get free use of the Aviva box, have matchday packages for volunteers and families, great exposure in the programme, our logo emblazoned across the team's shirt and the many other associated benefits - it really is quite something."

EACH also invited along Rian Snell and his family along. Rian, 5, of Attleborough, is a massive City fan who suffers from chronic illness. Rian and his older brother Arun enjoyed a kickabout with City players Grant Holt, SImon Lappin and Cody McDonald.

At 22 weeks pregnancy, Karen's son, Rian, was diagnosed with post-urethral valve - a condition which causes the urethra to become blocked near the bladder. Rian was operated on while still in his mum Karen's womb, which carried many risks, but he survived and was born naturally.

The surgery was an initial success but it prolapsed and since his birth, Rian has undergone a number of operations to try and control his condition.

In 2007 both of Rian's kidneys combined were only working at 13 per cent of their usual capacity and fears for his health grew. In the same year Rian underwent major surgery in his abdomen involving a skin graft.

Then in July 2008 Rian underwent a kidney transplant, with a kidney donated from his mum, Karen. Rian has since had his three episodes of rejection of the organ and has had his own right kidney removed to reduce the frequency of infections he regularly suffers from.

Despite an incredibly complicated and painful first few years of his life, Rian is an incredibly strong young man and attends school, plays for a local football team and won two medals at this year's British Transplant Games.

"He is a fighter," said his mum Karen. "EACH has meant so much to him and us as a family and we are all absolutely delighted that the charity is set to benefit from Norwich City sponsorship - not least Rian, who is a huge Canaries fan.

"EACH staff have worked with the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital to help us to better understand Rian's condition and needs, something which has been invaluable to us all.

"The emotional support we have received from EACH has been the most important aspect of care, as it helped us to express how we feel and speak to someone about our concerns and fears.

"EACH is a fantastic charity, which offers invaluable care and support and we are delighted that they will benefit from this exciting and unique opportunity thanks to the Community Chest Challenge."

Nick Gibbs, sponsorship manager at Aviva said: "The lives of some of the Aviva's 7,000 Norwich employees would have been touched by local charities, making it important to get involved and fund-raise.

"We want to give something back to the community and do something good for local charities.

"I visited Quidenham hospice last week and it brought home to me the fantastic work EACH does. I'm delighted that we are able to give away Aviva's sponsorship for the day to help raise much-needed funds for EACH as well as increase awareness of the great work they do. We are organising a bucket collection before the game as well as auctioning the signed match-worn shirts on eBay."

John Nagle, Head of Communications at The Football League said: "Congratulations to EACH for winning this year's competition. Communities are the lifeblood of Football League Clubs and this is yet another great example of clubs working hard to support local organisations. It will help to raise the profile of the charity and the support delivered by Norwich City and Aviva should be commended."

For more information about EACH visit www.each.org.uk or call 01953 715559.