We're giving something back
As ardent charity stalwarts, 2016 is a pretty hard year to beat from a fundraising perspective. We raised and donated money to 27 different charities to the tune of £8,814. We did all manner of activities to achieve this jaw-dropping figure.
Anyone who’s ever read one of our many charity stories will know about our monthly dress down Fridays. We wear casual clothes to the office every Friday and once a month contribute a minimum of £1 each for the charity pot. Our regional offices take turns choosing that month’s charity and the money’s then forwarded on accordingly. Throughout the year we accrued over £650 from dressing down.
We also showed support to others hosting their own fundraisers, be it staff, friends, family or clients.This ranged from a 10,000 steps a day month-long challenge to running a marathon and equated to more than £850 over the year’s duration.
Finally, we held two big fundraising events. First, in May, we walked 30 miles along Hadrian’s Wall within 10 hours. It was flatter terrain than the previous year’s Yorkshire Three Peaks trek but, due to damage caused by flooding, sections of the walk were cordoned off and we had to detour extensively. We overcame these setbacks, completed the walk and raised £6,145 with some matched funding and cupcake selling thrown in! Our beneficiary was the Alzheimer’s Society who were delighted to receive such a staggering amount of money towards their research, campaigning and local advisory services initiatives.
Second, our November Children in Need day involved our ever-popular Mancunian buffet, guess the weight of the cake, quiz, raffle and various games such as radio bingo. As a result of our efforts, we raised just shy of £1,150 for vulnerable, disadvantaged and disabled children here in the UK.
However, we’re determined to smash this total in 2017 and we’re already well on the way to achieving our ambitious goal. Want to know our fundraising monies to date? Drum roll please… £5,250!
We’ve done things we’ve never done before, not least a boxing match, firewalk and half marathon. We’ve collected Easter eggs for poorly children in hospital. We’ve run a special collection for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund for the British Red Cross to help those injured or bereaved by the devastating bomb attack at Manchester Arena. We’ve also held a raffle, cake and book sale for this year’s main charity, Help for Heroes. And, not forgetting our monthly dress down Fridays and regular blood donations which have continued throughout the year, and supported all manner of national and local charities including St Ann’s Hospice, The Christie, Cancer Research UK, Woodlands Hospice, Marfan Association, Stick ‘n’ Step, Bliss, Darlington Women’s Refuge, R Charity and Kingsbury Primary School.
Our biggest challenge was Tough Mudder on 9th September. We were already very familiar with the hardcore assault course that is Tough Mudder, having taken part in 2015. This time, there were even more of us participating and we’re still busy collecting donations for Help for Heroes.
If you think tackling 20+ world-class obstacles over a 12-mile course containing 500,000 litres of grade-A mud and 40 tonnes of ice deserves a few pounds’ donation, please go to our secure JustGiving page to show your support at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/quilltoughmudder. Thank you in advance for your generosity.
Doing your own fundraising and looking for donations? Seeking volunteers for your charitable projects? Got any suggestions for new events to hold or charities to support? Do get in touch with our charity committee by emailing projectqp@quill.co.uk.
