With an estimated £50 million in loose change rattling around our homes, Down Syndrome Cheshire is appealing to the Macclesfield community to support its 'Pennies Sock Amnesty'.

This involves filling a sock with pennies to raise funds for the charity in the run up to World Down Syndrome Day (#WDSD2022) on Monday March 21.

WDSD is a global awareness day which has been officially observed by the United Nations since

The date for WDSD being the 21st day of the third month, was selected to signify the uniqueness of the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome which causes Down syndrome. The reason the charity wears colourful socks on #WDSD is because chromosomes look like socks. Emma Grimster, Marketing and Communications Manager for the charity comments: "Hunt around the house, get your hand down the side of the sofa, empty out your coat pockets and stuff it in a sock for us. "With more and more of us making digital payments there's plenty of unused change that could go towards our charity work." Macclesfield based school uniform and workwear supplier Classworx has offered to be a 'Pennie Sock Amnesty' drop off point for the charity at their headquarters on King Edward Road. Owner Louise Renshaw had this to comment. "What a wonderful way to support a charity by donating coins that we no longer use," she said. "And goodness knows how many of us parents have odd socks lying around the house that could also be put to better use! "I'm delighted to support Down Syndrome Cheshire ahead of its annual awareness day and look forward to meeting many supporters over the coming weeks." The Cheshire community has supported Down Syndrome Cheshire with the #WDSD awareness day by wearing colourful socks, selling sock biscuits and taking on sponsored challenges in previous years before the pandemic. This year, the charity is hoping that the community will yet again step up to help it return to pre-pandemic fundraising levels. 2018 figures suggest 41,700 people live with Down syndrome in England and Wales. Macclesfield: To find out more please visit the Down Syndrome Cheshire website by clicking this link. See Also: [L]https://macclesfield.nub.news/n/concerns-cost-of-living-crisis-will-affect-kids-wellbeing-in-macclesfield[L+]Concerns cost of living crisis will affect children's wellbeing in Macclesfield Macclesfield: Have you signed up for our FREE Friday weekly newsletter? It contains each week's top 10 Macclesfield news stories, and one EXCLUSIVE article? 1200 of you have signed up already. Simply enter your email address in the shaded box below or on this link. Free from pop-up ads, or unwanted surveys, Macclesfield Nub News is a quality online newspaper which produces 30-40 stories a week for our town. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter.