The Barnardo’s charity shop in Stoke Gifford has exceeded expectations by surpassing its target of raising £1,000 throughout September.
Staff were originally given the challenge in September when they were asked to raise an extra £1,000 in addition to their usual sales. In order to succeed, they knew that they would need members of the local community to help by volunteering their time and ideas for how they could raise the extra money. To kick start the project, the charity shop, which is located on Ratcliffe Drive, held a Bank Holiday Fun Day on Saturday 25th August to raise awareness as well as vital funds. There was face painting, a magician, a balloon artist, cake sale, lucky dip and a raffle. The event was enjoyed by all who attended and made a great start towards the fundraising target. Julie Britt, store associate, said: “We are amazed at how well we have done in the first couple of weeks. The Fun Day event was a great success and we raised over £500!”
The staff at Barnardo’s have now surpassed their £1,000 target due to a number of other events that took place throughout September. These included a trampoline taster session held at Cardiff Metropolitan University which raised £85, a stall held outside the Barnardo’s shop run by two managers from Santander which raised £56, a bag pack at Tesco Extra which raised £246 and a generous donation from a customer.
Julie said:
“Myself and my colleague Natasha would like to say a huge thank you to our customers and the local community for supporting us. We have now raised £1,287.75 which is more than we ever imagined!”
A volunteer at the shop has also been singing songs from a variety of musicals outside the store which has raised a further £34 and a customer has decided to do a sponsored head shave. There is also going to be an evening of mediumship (the practice of communicating with spirits) with Maria Deane held in the Stoke Gifford store on 23rd October. To buy tickets for this event or to donate to Barnardo’s, please contact Julie or Natasha on 0117 9314115.
Barnardo’s is the UK’s largest children’s charity who work to transform the lives of the most vulnerable children through their services, campaigning and research expertise. They believe that they can bring out the very best in every child whether the issue is child poverty, sexual exploitation, disability or domestic violence. To find out more about the work that Barnardos’ does, visit www.barnardos.org.uk
Photo: Cake stall at the charity fun day on Saturday 25th August.
This article originally appeared in the October 2018 issue of the Stoke Gifford Journal news magazine (on page 19). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to over 5,000 homes in Stoke Gifford, Little Stoke and Harry Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
