This in from Charlie at Sainsbury’s in Cowes. Ed
A year’s worth of fundraising and awareness support from Sainsbury’s Cowes has made a huge difference to the staff and patients at brainstrust. Thanks to generous donations from customers, the store has announced they have raised £1,502.22 in total.
It’s been an amazing 12 months for the charity after they entered Sainsbury’s Cowes Local Charity voting process back in May 2013.
When Brainstrust was announced as Cowes’ new Local Charity partner for 2013/2014, Kim Jeffreys, Support Administrator for brainstrust couldn’t wait to get started:
“For a big retailer like Sainsbury’s to confirm a year’s partnership with us was just incredible news, I remember receiving the phone call and having a big grin on my face!
“We had our first meeting shortly after and we worked up some great ideas that we hoped would create great feedback with the store’s customers and colleagues.”
Awareness and fundraising events
Throughout the last 12 months, colleagues at the store held several activities to raise funds and awareness of how brainstrust supports patients and carers once diagnosed with brain cancer. These included a fancy dress themed social evening and quiz night which helped to raise the profile of brain cancer.
Despite the partnership coming to a close, it doesn’t mean that the charity will now be forgotten, as Store Manager Charlie Bird explains:
“Our colleagues have really enjoyed working with brainstrust and it’s certainly touched the hearts of many of them that before didn’t necessarily have a direct link to them.
“We know what an important part they play in the community and we hope the year-long partnership has helped remind our customers of the valuable service they provide locally. Thanks to the partnership, we’ll certainly now be looking into ways we can support them in the future.”
Little brainstrust
The partnership has helped us to launch Little brainstrust to enable us to give more support to the families of children with brain cancer, Kim Jeffreys is very grateful for the admirable efforts of customers and the Sainsbury’s Cowes team:
Kim Jeffreys said:
“Working with Sainsbury’s Cowes over the last 12 months has made such a difference to our cause. We have raised a fantastic amount which we are using towards our Brain Boxes which are sent to every patient at no cost to themselves and Sainsbury’s has enabled us to give more support to families on the Island who have been affected by brain cancer, this is not a journey they have chosen to be on and we do not want people to feel lost or alone as we are always there for them. We are looking forward to working with them on future opportunities.”
