Stripes4Stripey2019 was stripier than ever!

We are very happy to report that the money raised has now well exceeded our target of £1500, in fact we have more than doubled it which is absolutely amazing! This figure includes all on/offline donations and any gift aid. It’s still rolling in so we’ll keep the above counter updated. If you wore stripes for the campaign (or even if you didn’t) and haven’t donated yet, there’s still time here. 

The funds will be used throughout the year to buy new socks, pants and nightwear for the clothing packs we distribute to local families experiencing hardship. We believe these particular items should be clean and new, so the recipients are given the comfort and dignity they deserve.

#StripeyOnTour

To give you a flavour of the day, you can see through our mascot Stripey’s eyes, as he went forth on his road trip with Donna, our Community Ambassador (aka Stripey’s PA), to visit some of the organisations who were taking part…

First stop was the lovely team at First Community Health and Care, one of our main referral partners so we have the pleasure of working closely with them all year round. We know how much they appreciate the support we give them and the families on their caseloads, but on this particular day we really felt the love and the feeling was mutual. They were all fashioning stripes and shaking collection buckets, as well as them organising the most fabulous of cake sales, bringing in a total of £209.17 for which we are so grateful.

Next stop was Reigate Baptist Church, where Stripey was excited to get some cuddles from the Stripey children (and parents) at their toddler’s group. He saw some amazing stripey, albeit odd, socks being worn by Rachel (Pastor Mike’s wife), who only promised to take them off once they ‘d reached their £100 target – mission accomplished!

Then onto see our friends and longtime supporters at the Belfry Shopping Centre. Stripes were everywhere, from head to toe (literally!), and they were rewarded for all their efforts with some Stripey ‘me time’, which we know they love.

Finally ending at the offices of two of our regular corporate volunteers, IHS Markit in Coulsdon and Bailhache Linton in Whyteleafe. It was lovely to see them all, and even lovelier to see them so stripey. We appreciate everything they do for us and this day was no exception, they’ve certainly earned their stripes.

Back at the nest

Meanwhile, our core team and volunteers were having some stripey fun of their own – stripey uniform being a must. Puzzler, our corporate group for the day, went that little bit further and had a competition between themselves for the best dressed stripey person – well done to the winner Shameen!

The Mayoress of Reigate and Banstead swung by to show her stripey solidarity, as well as not missing an opportunity to drop-off some toys for us to pass onto the children we support.

Stripes4Stripey everywhere

A huge thanks to Willis Towers Watson for organising an amazing raffle, as well as the most impressive collection to our Stripes4Stripey fund. After match funding is added, it will bring their grand total to £1623.68.

Much gratitude to the Natural Baby Shower, an amazing bunch of people who went full force into supporting our campaign. Not only did they organise all of their stripey products into a fabulous online collection so their customers could get with the stripey vibe, they very kindly donated 1% of their total sales for the day to our fund. All of this raising a grand total of £509.22.

Stripes also hit the local streets and training ground of Reigate Joggers, as they encouraged all of their members attending classes that day to wear stripes and donate – don’t they look stunning?

Each year our campaign gains momentum and we were amazed to see this year we even made it as far as Australia, Abu Dhabi, Cyprus and Italy, which just goes to show our stripes know no boundaries.

To end this poignant day, Stripey was invited to the Reigate and Banstead Council‘s executive meeting to check the attendees were in their stripes as promised. He’s becoming such a familiar face at the Town Hall that he even has his own name plate.

There was so many stripey activities, it’s impossible to include them all here, but we’ve listed them below in our thank yous, as well as more photos in our photo carousel of fame at the bottom of the page.

Thank yous

Thank you to all of our supporters who got involved and helped ensure the Stripes4Stripey fund was topped up for another year. Special thanks go to the following:

• The Mayor and Mayoress of Reigate and Banstead – for wearing stripes all day and encouraging everyone who crossed their paths to do the same. Thanks to the Mayoress for paying us a special visit.
• First Community Health and Care – for inviting Stripey on his #StripeyOnTour, the cake sale they arranged looked delicious and everyone looked like they had a good old stripey time across their sites, raising an impressive £209.17. They were also joined by the team at Alliance for Better Care who got into the stripey spirit of the day.
• The Reigate Baptist Church – for encouraging the children and parents at their toddler’s group to wear stripes, and to Rachel for dazzling everyone with her stripey socks.
• The Belfry Shopping Centre – for welcoming #StripeyOnTour, involving the VARB and Redhill175 teams in the fun and arranging a collection.
• Bailhache Linton and IHS Markit – for being part of the #StripeyOnTour fun, digging out their stripes and organising their own collections (£56.25 and £131.24 respectively).
• Willis Towers Watson – for organising a super raffle, getting stripey and arranging match funding.
• Puzzler – for spending the day with us team volunteering, and to those who were left behind at their offices who still had their stripey celebration – £250 was donated from Puzzler so thank you.
• Reigate & Banstead Borough Council – to all the Councillors and Town Hall staff who joined in and for welcoming Stripey back for their evening meeting, even giving him a mention on their webcast.
• The Natural Baby Shower – for wearing stripes in the office, drumming up support from their customers and organising their online stripey collection, as well as donating 1% of sales on the day.
• Furzefield Primary School in Merstham for raising £55 and donating some new socks for our campaign, and also to The Red Oak Sure Start Centre for their contribution.
• St Mary’s Toddler Group in Reigate – for encouraging everyone to wear stripes and donate at their weekly Friday session, as well as donating their takings for the day to our fund. Cakes and sweets treats were also on sale, as well as stripey cookies made by the talented Nikki from Millar & May.
• Reigate Ladies and Junior Joggers – for turning their sessions stripey and encouraging donations, raising a lovely £88.96.
• Run Reigate – for getting stripey, we know we can always count on them!
• JLT – for their kind donation of £231.19 to our fund, raised from many wearing stripes and organising a ‘guess the celebrity face from the children’s photo’ competition.
• Celtic Contractors – for getting stripey and digging deep, raising £60 towards our fund.
• Pistachio’s @ The Pavilion – for getting stripey and encouraging collections in their cafe.
• Dayspace (our new neighbours) – for being so welcoming and truly embracing the Stork way.
• The Girl Who Gardens – for collating a Pinterest board just for us of the most colourful and beautiful stripey flowers.
• GLF Schools – who organised a teacher’s event the following week where they are encouraging all 300 attendees to wear stripes, £51.45 was donated in total.
• Thanks also go to the following for helping to spread the word/their kind donations – Kemp Marketing, Mini Melton, Doodlemoo, The Guilty Mummy, Nicola Semple, Boogie Monsters, Reigate & Banstead Women’s Refuge, Sals Shoes, Kaptured by Kate, Redhill Confetti and George and the Giant Pledge.