Hib-hib-hooray as Bonnyrigg girl raises cash for Dnipro Kids

A six-year-old Hibs-daft girl from Bonnyrigg has raised hundreds of pounds for the charity set-up by supporters of the Leith club to help Ukrainian children.

Bonnyrigg Primary pupil Orla Ferguson sold football cards, held raffles and a table sale to raise more than £700 for Dnipro Kids, the charity which recently helped relocate dozens of children from an orphanage in the Ukrainian city to Edinburgh.

Having fled the Russian invasion, the children are now living in the Capital, away from the terrors of war in their home country.

Little Orla wanted to help the charity after seeing a tweet by Hibs about the children helped by Dnipro Kids.

Little Hibby Orla Ferguson from Bonnyrigg has raised more than £700 for the Dnipro Kids charity.

Her mum, Catherine Ferguson, said: “It was when everything all started, when they brought the kids over. Hibs put a picture on social media of a little boy who had been researching Hibs before they came here.

“Orla wanted to give this boy some pounds so he could buy things over here. And she wanted to tell them all about her club.

"The charity football cards, we bought and advertised them on social media. The raffle was mostly Body Shop goodies and we have another raffle on the go. And we did a car boot sale at Ocean Terminal.

"I’m so proud of her. She just wanted to do something really nice."

Orla with Hibs player Joe Newell at Easter Road.

Orla’s love for Hibs is undeniable, attending the mens and ladies teams matches every week, getting to know the players in the process.

Catherine added: "She has been going to Easter Road since she was four months old so to be linked to the club is really nice. She loves it.

"She is well loved in the Hibs mens team, by Joe Newell in particular. The Hibs ladies team are really fond of her too.”

Speaking about Orla’s fundraising efforts, Dnipro Kids chairman Steven Carr said: “When Callum Ferguson got in touch with us back in May to say that his six year old daughter Orla wanted to give her favourite teddies to the Ukrainian children, it had us all genuinely moved.

"The fact that Orla has since come up with so many fundraising ideas, and has selflessly gone on to collect so much money for Dnipro Kids, is truly inspiring.”

To thank Orla, Steven has invited her along to a day out with the kids.

The charity was established in 2005 to help an orphanage in Dnipro after Hibs played a UEFA Cup game there.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

You can donate to Orla’s fundraising appeal for Dnipro Kids, at https://www.instagram.com/orlaferguson14/.