AN urgent appeal held to help a Bulgarian girl who has been aided by Okehampton’s The House of Rachel charity has reached its fundraising target — with a little help from the Times.

The charity has set up an appeal to help Bobby, a girl who lived in Provadia Orphanage, a facility in Bulgaria supported by the House of Rachel.

In the last few weeks Bobby has been involved in a serious car crash, leaving her fighting for her life with severe spinal injuries. The state had paid for two major operations which saved her life but would not pay for the medicines and care she needs to make a full recovery.

Bobby’s orphanage in Provadia had an impossible dilemma — either sign the papers authorising the treatment and in doing so take responsibility for the bill or walk away. The orphanage director signed the papers and managed to raise 3,200 lev (£1,150) towards Bobby’s care but this was only a third of the amount needed.

The charity had no time to launch an appeal so they send the money needed — around £2,600 — before doing so.

In last week’s Times the charity launched an appeal to support Bobby — and were astounded by the response.

Charity founder Andrew Morgan said: ‘I am absolutely delighted to announce that we have reached our target to raise money for Bobby’s hospital treatment.

‘In response to the article in the Times an anonymous donor handed in a cheque for £2,400. The donor commented that there are many excellent causes all deserving of support but Bobby’s story had touched their heart and was encouraged to help by the fact that they knew exactly where the money would go and how it would be spent.

‘One of the things I’ve learned from running this charity is the realisation that we cannot save the world on our own but we can help individual children and be far more effective by focusing on smaller projects, so we were delighted to learn that this policy struck a chord with our donor.

‘While celebrating news of this donation it is very important that we do not overlook the other donations we have received for Bobby — £5 here, £10 there, and more. Every one of them is as valuable as the larger donations and we are equally as grateful for “the widow’s mite” as these lie at the heart of everything we achieve.’

Andrew and the charity expressed thanks to everyone who has given in response to the appeal and are awaiting more news of Bobby’s progress.