STORY OF A FUNDRAISER
Summer 2008 and the Ripple Appeal is born. The aim – to raise £1.4 million for a new Day Care annexe at Treetops Hospice in Risley.
Treetops Hospice patron John Griffiths was part of a team of volunteers helping to raise the money.
This is John’s story:
“During the summer of 2008 there was a renewed enthusiasm for the Ripple Appeal but I think it’s fair to say we struggled to think how we would raise £1.4million. It did seem a huge amount of money and well beyond the means of our limited fundraising team. We weren’t to be beaten though, and a small group of committed and enthusiastic supporters, including a couple of trustees, began thinking of ways to make inroads into the target.
I was one of these enthusiasts and as I tried to break down this huge sum of money I realised that it could become better understood and may be more achievable to think of it in blocks of £1,000.
As I sat in the hairdressers chair at C2 Salon in Breaston, my hairdresser Carol McTernon asked me how things were going at Treetops. My reply was that everything is fine but we are trying to raise a lot of money for a new extension. I said: “….all we want now is individuals or companies or organisations to pledge £1,000 each and then we will have cracked it.” Carol’s response amazed me, she said immediately: “I will pledge £1,000. A couple of coffee mornings and a raffle or two and I reckon I could manage to get £1,000.” My reply was simply: “Carol, you are on.”
So, over several months Carol and a group of her friends set out to raise £1,000 and I think it took five coffee mornings to achieve the target and these were held in Carol and her husband’s home. The coffee and scones were delicious as I felt it my duty to pop along to a couple of these coffee mornings.
One of my pleasant duties as a Patron of Treetops Hospice is to go to organisations to give a talk about the hospice and to encourage them to make a donation. At that time it was to the Ripple Appeal and I frequently used Carol’s example to encourage a similar pledge in many cases to good effect.
The pleasant conclusion to this true story is that I recently met Carol in the new reception area at Treetops Hospice and showed her around the extension so that she could see how the money she had raised had been used. I did know that Carol had been one of the hospices first volunteer hairdressers and as we looked around the refurbished old part of the building, Carol pointed out exactly where she used to come to attend to people’s hair. Carol also told me that she was one of the volunteers who came into the building before it opened as part of a team of local people who set about tearing up the old carpets; stripping wallpaper, sand papering woodwork etc.
I hope this account of what one local person can achieve will inspire others to think of ways to continue to support your local hospice. There are many ways that people offer support. From raising money, which of course remains important as the majority of the running costs have to come from our own fundraising activities; helping in one of our 11 charity shops; to joining a volunteer training course which opens up opportunities for voluntary work at the hospice itself.”
