A big round of applause for Jake, who completed his 30-day skipping challenge and smashed the £250 target in February 2024. He chose Stripey Stork as his charity to support for this outdoor challenge set by his school, after feeling inspired by his sister who had previously supported us by making and selling Christmas cards. Jake skipped a total of 2,500 times during this period, which averaged 84 skips a day, not even taking a break for this Birthday and holiday. He ‘jumped’ into this challenge with lots of energy and fundraising enthusiasm.

A huge thank you to superstar fundraiser Chloe who raised £180 for Stripey Stork. As the charity ambassador at her school, Chloe, was looking for ways she could raise money and decided to hold a book sale. She collected and sorted through donations, put posters around the school and held the sale in the playground. It was lovely to welcome her and her mum to the warehouse this week to show them around, they even had time to make up some premature baby packs. We think she’s pretty amazing!

Well done and thank you to Sebastian for including us in his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award this month. For his voluntary service, he dog walked to raise money for charity and we are so pleased that he chose us to be the beneficiary, raising an impressive £250 in total. That’s a lot of dogs and a lot of walking. What an achievement – a big congratulations from all at Team Stork!

An amazing team effort from Dom, Baz, Matt, Laurie, Will and George (and their entourage) from Reigate Heath Golf Club who challenged themselves to play 100 holes of golf in a single day in June 2021. They were up at the crack of dawn and finished at sunset. This really was no mean feat – per person they covered on average 25 miles and 500 golf swings. All for Stripey Stork and St Catherine’s Hospice Crawley. The last time we checked their fundraising page had very nearly reached an incredible £7,000 (+gift aid)! Well done lads, you certainly deserved that well-earned pint at the end.

Russell from Matthew Douglas Ltd. has been busy pounding the local streets and parks after committing to donate £50 every week (over the next year) to Stripey Stork for every park run, or park run he would have completed if restrictions allowed. The first of the projects he wanted to support was our Easter activity bags. He wants to help vulnerable families who have been adversely affected by the pandemic, so this was a good choice. He even volunteered for the bag packing, all part of the training! Welcome to Team Stork Russell.

Caitlyn is one of the most kindhearted souls we are lucky enough to know. Her Birthday is in March, with 2021 being the year she turned 11! As like in 2019, she didn’t want anything for herself, but instead asked for £ donations to help Stripey Stork. She wanted to source and buy new art stationery for the Easter bags being given to disadvantaged local children, to keep them entertained over the holidays. Her efforts raised an amazing £320 which she used to lovingly prepare 40 Easter bags herself. Thank you Caitlyn for making a big difference once again.

Andrea is fabulous in every way. So it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise to us (but it did) that when her husband asked what she wanted for her Birthday in early March 2021, she replied: “A donation to Stripey Stork please”. Queue a £100 donation to Stripey Stork. Andrea is one of our regular and longstanding volunteers who’s been a great help keeping our service going through the COVID-19 crisis, as well as being one of our Santa Stork shining stars. We feel lucky every day to have Andrea on Team Stork.

Long time volunteer Lois had a lockdown Birthday back in January 2020 and knowing there was nothing she genuinely needed for herself, she knew Stripey Stork needed pants! So she selflessly asked friends and family for new children’s underwear donations instead of gifts. It was their way of still wishing her a happy Birthday and her way of giving back. These donations of socks, pants and vests were much-needed, which of course Lois knew, and we were able to use them in our clothing packs straight away. Lois – always thinking of others!