We’ve raised a record amount for Children in Need!

We’ve raised a record amount for Children in Need!

Our colleagues and customers have raised over £130k for Children in Need in just six weeks, a record amount – smashing our existing fundraising campaigns from previous years.

One Stop supports three national charities – Children in Need, Alzheimer’s Society and MacMillan Cancer Support. We also support charities, groups and individuals the length and breadth of the UK and have raised a total of over £8.8 million for good causes in the past eight years.

This year, we decided to start our Children in Need fundraising appeal a month early which has really paid dividends with the amount we have raised. Liz Fox, One Stop’s Head of Sustainability & Social Responsibility commented: “This year our store colleagues have been amazing in their efforts and our customers have responded by engaging in our fundraising and donating. We can’t thank our colleagues, customers and wider community enough for their time, effort and generosity. We’re absolutely over the moon to have raised so much and know this will make a significant difference to Children in Need!”

 

Virtually every single one of our stores – from across our 900 core and franchise estate – took part in the Children in Need fundraising. Over £60k was raised last week alone, with Langold in Worksop raising the most from a single store at £3k.

Children in Need distribute funding raised from their yearly campaigns to local charities many of which are local to our stores via their grant programme.

So how did we raise such a significant amount. Liz explains: “The stores themselves came up with a huge array of fundraising ideas from tombola’s and fancy-dress days, to ‘sponge the store manager’ and raffles! We also had ideas generated at head office and many stores, including a ‘Pedal for Pudsey’ cycling challenge where stores each had a different target – some 100 miles, some teams doing 300. They did their cycling out of store, in store – via static bikes -, at home or within the community, all helping to raise awareness and funds.

“We’ve also had stores working together including colleagues across 3 stores from Sheffield who raised over £2k in six hours at Meadowhall Shopping Centre. They did such a great job that they even inspired the centre to turn the roof yellow with lights to celebrate Children in Need!”

Children in Need’s mission is to help ensure every child in the UK is safe, happy, secure and has the opportunities they need to reach their potential. It funds over 2,500 local charities and projects which directly support children and young people in communities right across the UK.