Driving change: A look back at six months of fundraising
During the first six months of 2023, we’re delighted to have helped raise over £9.5k for nine charities chosen by Sanctuary staff.
Payday contributions continue to raise an average of £192 per month. So far this year, our staff voted to raise funds for the following charities:
January - Myeloma UK
February - Syria/Turkey Earthquake
March - St Elizabeth Hospice
April - Ipswich Deaf Children’s Society
May - Oliver King Foundation
June - Ormiston Families
To donate to any of the charities listed, all you need to do is click on the charity link in each section. We know they’d appreciate the support.
Tough Mudder
Myeloma UK is the only charity in the UK that focuses on the incurable blood cancer, myeloma, and its related conditions. Because myeloma is such an individual cancer, they make sure what patients and families want is at the heart of everything they do.
They invest in research that helps them understand how myeloma develops and progresses, and they do this to help everyone working in myeloma better understand and meet the needs of myeloma patients and help deliver change.
This charity was suggested by Hannah, Senior Consultant in International Social Work, who later took part in the Tough Mudder 5K Obstacle Run held at Finsbury Park. Myeloma UK holds a very special place in her heart. Sadly, Hannah lost her grandad to myeloma back in October 2022, which motivated her to make a positive difference in his memory. Setting an initial fundraising target of £300 on her JustGiving page, Hannah never expected the incredible response she received. The remarkable generosity of friends, family, and colleagues allowed her to go above and beyond her goal, raising a fantastic total of £742—equivalent to an astonishing 247% of her target. Combined with our payday contributions, we raised nearly £1,000 for Myeloma UK.
The Sandlings Trails
In March, UK/International Partnerships & Accounts Manager Marc Leggett, along with his girlfriend and dog, did “the Sandlings Trails” and walked over 58 miles from Ipswich to Southwold to raise money for St Elizabeth Hospice. This independent Suffolk charity delivers palliative care to over 3,000 patients and their families living with progressive or life-limiting illnesses. Having supported some of Marc’s family and friends, we donated £192 from our monthly payday contributions.
Baking for a brighter future
For Deaf Awareness Week, we hosted a charity bake sale in aid of Ipswich Deaf Children’s Society. Combined with our monthly payroll contributions, we raised nearly £600! Highlights included ‘Guess the number of sweets in the jar’ and some particularly popular homemade sausage rolls.
This was kindly organised by our Head of Mental Health Nursing & Psychological Therapies, Deane. The charity has provided great support to his son Teddy, who is partially deaf, and so he wanted to give back to this worthy cause.
Thank you once again to all those that took part. It was such a great success that we'll be making this an annual event!
A new world record
The son of our Strategic Lead, Kieley Blackborow, set a new world record with his friends. Over two days, they sat in every seat in Everton’s Goodison Park – that’s 39,414 seats! This was all done in aid of the Oliver King Foundation to purchase defibrillators for the local area.
The Oliver King Foundation was set up following the death of a 12-year-old boy from Liverpool who tragically died at a school swimming lesson a few years ago due to Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome. It is believed that if a defibrillator had been in place, then he may have been saved.
A defibrillator costs around £1,000, so Kieley’s son and his friends have set an ambitious target of raising enough money over the course of the year to buy 100 of them for their local area. To help them reach their £100k goal, visit their GoFundMe page.
100 miles for motor neurone disease
In May, one of our fantastic candidates embarked on the 100-mile Ride London cycling festival.
Sohail, an Approved Mental Health Practitioner in Adult Social Services, chose to take part to raise awareness and funds for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. It’s a cause close to his heart, with a family member battling MND and no known treatment.
His consultant, our very own Jordan Castaldo, says:
“Sohail is a great character. We have a common interest in football – we often chat about his team (Aston Villa) and mine (Ipswich). We started working together in July 2022. We’ve worked together across 2 different contracts so far; long may it continue.”
In total, we managed to support Sohail in raising £500.
Sea-to-Summit & the UGrad+ Cup
We had the pleasure of hosting the first ever UGrad+ Cup at the JobServe Community Stadium as we took to the pitch to raise money for Ormiston Families. You can see our team in action here.
Our combined efforts with Seven Resourcing saw generous donations from players and supporters alike, raising a grand total of £1,148 for this local charity. These funds will support children, young people and their families to see a brighter future.
Not only this, but Recruitment Consultant Reece Golding took on the Sea-to-Summit Challenge 2023 for this fantastic cause. He conquered 30 miles of biking, hiking, and kayaking through the heart of Snowdonia, maintaining his position as a front runner throughout the event to raise money to provide services to children and young families across the East of England.
A safer future for Ipswich
In May, Senior Recruitment Consultant, Alex Meek, revealed that his tattoo artist founded the Be Lucky Anti-Crime Foundation.
Their founder, Paul Stansby, sadly lost his brother to a knife attack in 2017 and has since been working tirelessly with the police, council, and local businesses to install anti-bleed kits across the town to help save lives.
To support them in their fight for a safer future for Ipswich, we decided to fund their latest addition, which you can find outside our head office in Ipswich town centre.
Travels in Tanzania
Taking inspiration from his girlfriend Lois and the passionate individuals he’s been supporting within Social Work, Recruitment Consultant Charlie Reeve took some time away from the office to travel to Tanzania to support a local organisation that provides essential supplies to children in need. They successfully raised £1,015 to help purchase school materials, clothing, and food.
If you would like to put forward a charity for our monthly employee donations, please email Kate Josselyn. We love hearing about charities, both big and small.
