Ben’s Marathon and a Half for Stripey Stork
When it comes to supporting Stripey Stork, Ben Harris didn’t just go the extra mile
Menu
Stripes4Stripey is now well and truly marked in the local calendar. This year, on Thursday 18th June, we asked our supporters – young and old, feline and friend – to dig out their stripes and help raise funds to buy new socks, pants and PJ’s to use in our clothing packs all year round. We’ve been blown away by the result…
This year was no ordinary Stripes4Stripey, it was the year we went virtual. Due to social distancing restrictions, we all had to be a little more creative with fundraising, whilst still creating a buzz around our unity of stripes. We needn’t have worried, everyone was up for making this the most successful yet! The day may have started a little wet, but all the stripes of the rainbow were shining throughout the whole day.
We decided to put all of our fundraising efforts for June into the build up to Stripes4Stripey and make this an inclusive event for the whole family. A ‘Think Tank’, made up of some of our fab volunteers and led by the lovely Donna, was formed and the countdown was on!
Every day leading up to Stripes4Stripey Day we had a children’s activity on our website and posted on social media – lots of free downloads using materials most would already have at home and entertainment to help keep the little ones occupied during lockdown. From bopping along to Boogie Monster’s virtual concert, to enjoying storytime with Infinity – Space to grow, between us we had it all covered. There’s so much to enjoy, so we’re going to leave this web page live for some time yet.
Unison Choir kick-started the fundraising with releasing their cover of the classic song ‘I’ll Stand By You’, which came with all the feels! They’ve certainly stood by us and feel honoured that they chose to do this for our campaign.
But the Stripes4Stripey tunes didn’t stop there. Local teacher and musical legend Mr Scullin wrote and recorded our very own song – all about pants! It’s unique, catchy and we love it…
One of our loyal supporters, Simone from Redhill Confetti, got crafty for us once again, and created these lovely children’s DIY kits of a stripey tree hanger, windchime, wooden bracelet and bunting, with all profits going towards the appeal and any remaining kits being donated to Stripey Stork.
Our corporate partners are a big part of Team Stork and they’ve surpassed themselves once again.
Donna dialled in to join Pfizer for their virtual afternoon tea fundraiser, which also involved a baby photo quiz and bake-off competition (joint winning cakes below). We loved seeing them get so involved in showing off their stripes, with creations which were out of this world!
Willis Towers Watson really got into the spirit of the day, with a lunchtime game of virtual Bingo (just one of the downloadable team games on our website) and evening pub quiz to finish off a very successful day of fundraising, smashing their £500 target! They’re also hoping to secure match funding through their CSR programme, which will be even more amazing.
Grant Thornton International wore stripes and had their own fundraising page, and Gibsons, who are always up for a game, organised their own virtual quiz…
Reigate Grange hit the mic with a karaoke show extravaganza – paying to nominate someone or paying double to get out of it!
Our friends at Natural Baby Shower looked radiant in their stripes and supported us with a sale on their special ‘stripey collection’ of wonderful products, with 10% of sales over a 4 day period being donated to our appeal.
It always means so much to us when we see how much our referral partners value our service. Thank you to First Community Health & Care and Alliance for Better Care for making stripes the uniform of the day, and into the evening with their virtual quiz.
It was lovely to see our local refuge RBWA enjoying a day full of stripey themed activities for the children.
The children, parents and teachers of Reigate St Marys have really embraced all things stripey this month, by adding activities from our Stripes4Stripey countdown to their homeschooling curriculum. Thank you to their community for expressing their appreciation by making donations. We are pleased to see the activities brought so much joy.
Reigate Grammar School did a remarkable job in rallying the troops to donate nappies (2,693!) and stationery items (4,902!) at their ‘drive thru’ event. What an achievement – these items are going to be so useful!
Thank you Royal Alexandra & Albert School, Lime Tree Primary School, Downsend Pre-Prep School and Reigate Parish School for also wearing stripes, donating and getting behind our campaign.
As this year’s charity partner for Reigate Hill Golf Club, their wonderful members were very keen to hit the course sporting their stripes and donations were made spanning the whole weekend.
Another sporting partnership this year is with Merstham Cricket Club, chaired by local legend and our 2020 marathon runner Richard Feist. They didn’t need any excuse to turn their pitch stripey.
With no opportunity for teams, friends and extended family members to take the usual obligatory photo of everyone together wearing stripes, instead we asked that people take a selfie and collate them into a Stripey4Stripey group photo. We encouraged everyone to send in their collages so we could pick a ‘Best Stripey Team of 2020’ winner.
Always a difficult decision, but we loved how The Red Oak Family Centre got creative and used our Stripes4Stripey colouring sheet download by Nicola B in their photos.
We also had a silent auction to win a pair of limited edition Stripey mascot chicks, made by our very own Jenny (Treasurer). The winning bid went to the Whyte family and they couldn’t have gone to a better home – new names confirmed as Ella and Bella. Avid supporters of our work through their local business, Celtic Contractors, so we know they’re in good hands and we can’t wait to hear all about their new adventures.
Thank you to all of our supporters who got involved and helped ensure the Stripes4Stripey fund is topped up for another year. Special thanks to the following:
The countdown
The ‘Think Tank’ team – Donna, Gill, Sara, Lois, Emma, Ursula, Emily and Jacqui for creating our fantastic countdown activities and downloadable quizzes, and to our mini Stork supporters Charlie, Caitlyn and Sophie who recorded fantastic instruction videos.
Boogie Monsters – Kelly, Ben and little monsters Oliver and Elsie.
Eoin McLaughlin and Polly Dunbar
Partner organisations
Willis Towers Watson – special thanks to Bingo caller Jenny and Quiz master extraordinaires Max, Dom and Izzy.
Reigate Hill Golf Club – special thanks to Kate (Captain) and Jacqui for your support.
Celtic Contractors – also for their Stripey chick donation.
Kemp Marketing – for wearing stripes and donating.
Mercer – Emily and Jo for their generous personal donation.
Horley Tangent – for always being fab, dressing in stripes for their Zoom meeting and making a £125 team donation.
Referral Partners
First Community Health & Care and Alliance for Better Care
Schools
Royal Alexandra & Albert School
Lime Tree Primary School – Mr Speirs (Head of Mercers House) for encouraging children to wear stripes.
Reigate Parish School – Laura for organising.
Special fundraisers
Campaign promotion
Radio Redhill – interviewing Nina from Unison Choir (7 mins in)
BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey – interviewing Donna (starts at 11:50am)
East Surrey Family Grapevine – for a free ad in their e-newsletter
Others
The Girl Who Gardens – creating a Pinterest moodboard of stripey plants
Photo competition entries – The Red Oak Family Centre, Horley Tangent, Merstham Cricket Club, Salfords Primary School and Celtic Contractors.
Emma Petts and Megan Sparber– two of our lovely volunteers who bid for the chicks and despite not winning, kindly donated their bid.
Oscar – one of our young supporters who saved his pocket money to donate to Stripes4Stripey.
Help in spreading the word/donating
Hygiene Bank Edenbridge & Oxted
We’ve tried to include as many of your wonderful photos as possible in this blog, but sadly it’s not possible to include them all. We’ve loved seeing them fill our social media newsfeeds, so thank you for getting stripey with us.
When it comes to supporting Stripey Stork, Ben Harris didn’t just go the extra mile
At Stripey Stork, we provide volunteering opportunities for young people working towards their Duke of
On Sunday 22nd September, we headed to Priory Park for the annual Run Reigate event.
With the generous support of Raven Housing Trust, we are proud to introduce the newest
51a Albert Road North
Reigate
Surrey
RH2 9EL
Registered as a charity in England and Wales 1161613
Our focus is the Surrey region and bordering areas. If you are in a different region, see map of UK baby banks to find one near you.
