A Dudley charity losing nearly £10,000 a week has launched a ‘Fiver Fortnight’ appeal with the hope of raising £1.3m to keep it running for another year.

The sight-loss Beacon Centre, one of the West Midland’s oldest charities, needs donations to help combat the ‘devastating’ impact of Covid-19 on its funds.

There are a number of different activities people can get involved with and all of them are aimed at encouraging people to donate £5 to the charity.

They say that if everyone in the local community did so, the charity would raise £1.3million.

The organisation ran a similar campaign in summer 2020 which raised vital funds to support people with sight loss.

The current fundraising fortnight runs until February 21 and activities include:

The chance to show some love for Beacon and a special someone on Valentine’s Day. Whether it’s a husband, wife, partner, friend, your children or someone sadly no longer with us, anyone can show their love for someone special by dedicating a virtual heart in their honour.

Visit www.visufund.com/heart-of-beacon to make a donation.

Get a copy of Beacon’s latest family pack. Everyone is struggling to keep little ones entertained at the moment, but people don’t need to worry about facing half-term with nowhere to go or nothing to do.

Families will be sent the latest activity pack which is full of ideas to keep even the most inquisitive of little minds busy.

Each donation will help support someone with sight loss.

Go to the Beacon Centre’s Facebook page to make a donation, then send your email address to supportus@beaconvision.org and you’ll be sent your pack.

Text donate to make a difference. People can also support Beacon quickly and easily by donating £5 by texting BEACONFIVER to 70085.

Texts cost £5 plus one standard rate message.

Beacon Centre Supporter Engagement Manager Sophie Higgins said: “This latest lockdown is tough for us all, but our vulnerable members are feeling isolated and lonely as their sight loss can mean it is harder for them to get out to the shops or for exercise.

“We want to ensure we can be there for them but unfortunately, the lockdown has been tough for our charity as well and we are losing around £9,500 a week as a result of the impact of the current restrictions.

“We have had such fantastic support throughout the pandemic, and we would really appreciate people getting behind our Fiver Fortnight campaign.”