It is easy to support a charitable cause and then forget it, your donation made. Your conscience clear.
But meanwhile that cause continues its mostly unsung work. And those behind it continue their simultaneously poignant but immensely powerful and purpose-driven mission, so often inspired by loss.
Such is the case with Morgan’s Army, the wonderfully admirable Women in Travel Retail’s (WiTR) charitable cause of the year.
Morgan’s Army was selected as the official WiTR+ charity partner for 2026 following a nomination by The Moodie Davitt Report Publisher Irene Revilla and my beloved daughter (and our Chief Operating Officer) Sinead Moodie before her passing in February.
Morgan’s Army is a South Wales-based charity established following the death of Matt and Natalie’s son, and young Rhiannon’s brother, Morgan from cancer in June 2023 at just three years old. You can read their story here.
During its packed gathering at the recent TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes (so kindly sponsored by Brown-Forman), WiTR+ announced it had shattered its original €15,000 fund-raising target to reach a magnificent total of €54k.
This princely sum will allow Morgan’s Army to refurbish parent accommodation to be near their sick children, along with other life-affirming initiatives.
Isn’t it wonderful – and I speak as a recently bereaved parent whose life and view of it will never be the same again – that something so good can arise out of something so very, very bad?
And so, equally, I will never, never, never let go of Morgan’s Army, bound to Sinead’s own #KickCancerThon both as a cause but also as a dual memory of beautiful children and siblings lost.
I was so very honoured to meet Matt and Natalie and their family in Cannes. I may have spent most of the time bawling like a baby but my mind was crystal-clear on the purpose, warmth and community spirit that Morgan’s Army, like #KickCancerThon, is delivering to a world so often gone so very wrong.
So please, read these LinkedIn and Facebook posts below from Matt Ridler, father of Morgan and a simply wonderful human being, and click here to donate to Morgan’s Army. Just because we all should.
Matt, Natalie and all your beautiful family who graced us in Cannes (including Rhiannon who could not be there and Morgan in spirit) with your courage and humility, thank you.
To Morgan. To Sinead. To our children, forever bound. ✈
