What started as a humble sandwich special has now reeled in more than £50,000 for local charities – all thanks to one Gorey café owner’s determination to turn grief from her nephew’s suicide into giving.
Each year Rhona’s at the Beach chooses a local charity to benefit from the proceeds of sales of its fish finger sandwiches – an “island go-to” for many – and cake.
Rhona Hewit, who runs the café, started the initiative after she lost her nephew, leading her to raise money for the now-closed Jersey Recovery College.
Always aiming higher
Ms Hewit, who won the Community Champion of the Year category at the 2023 Pride of Jersey Awards, recently announced that the total amount raised for various charities over the years had passed £50,000.
Last year, Motor Neurone Disease Association Jersey was selected as the café’s charity partner, with £8,000 raised for their work supporting islanders and families affected by the incurable neurological condition.
Announcing her choice for 2025, disability charity Enable Jersey, Ms Hewitt said she hoped to beat that figure and support what she called a “great little charity”.
She said: “Enable Jersey is a pan-disability charity, so it deals with people with any disability and it enables them to get the support that they need. They just help people lead better lives – they are a great little charity.”
“It’s been an honour”
“It feels amazing to have reached the milestone amount,” she said.
“It’s been an honour to fundraise for such worthwhile local charities out there doing such a great job to support local people.”
Ms Hewit added that she would not have been able to achieve this without the support from her “wonderful staff” as well as the Island’s community.
“I have the utmost respect for the public, and I will never ever let that go, because without their support I couldn’t do this,” she said.
“It actually costs her money!”
CEO of the disability charity Sean Pontin said: “I have personally known Rhona for some years and seen first-hand the hard work and enthusiasm she puts into raising money for good causes.”
“At the end of last year I was delighted when Rhona told me she wanted to support Enable,” he continued.
“Her fish finger sandwiches have become an island go-to and more amazingly she gives 100% of what she charges to charity which means it actually costs her money!
“We are so pleased to be working with Rhona and so grateful for her help with raising awareness of Enable as a charity and the services we offer to people living with a disability.”