Become a Friend, Spring 2014

Become a friend Spring 2014

Message from Andrea Kelley, Volunteer Development Manager Welcome to our spring edition of Become a Friend. I do hope you haven’t suffered from the awful weather over the last couple of months, and let’s hope the rain and winds are behind us and we can look forward to a lovely spring and summer.

Spring and summer are always busy months for the Rainbow Trust fundraising teams; we are not able to attend the many events we do without your help, so please read on to hear about how you can get involved with the community team over the coming months, in the office at Cleeve Court or in our charity shops.

I always love hearing your ideas and suggestions so please get in touch. You can call me on 01372 220043 or email me at andrea.kelley@rainbowtrust.org.uk

Thank you, Andrea Leave a lasting memory with a legacy to Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity As a volunteer for Rainbow Trust, you will know that the worst news any parent can hear is that their child has a terminal illness. We know that it’s the small, everyday things that make the biggest difference to how families cope, bringing them comfort, so they can laugh and have fun with their child, during the time that they have together.

Our Family Support Workers are there to do whatever it takes, to make sure that the last days a family have together are filled with love, and memories they will treasure. But at the moment, we can’t help every family. In fact, we’re currently only able to help about 25% of the families who need us.

It is with this in mind that we hope you will consider supporting Rainbow Trust in a way you may have not thought about before – by remembering us with a gift in your Will. We understand that your Will is very personal, and providing for your loved ones is most important. By remembering Rainbow Trust with a gift in your Will you will provide unique, tailored support for a family going through the hardest time in their life.

We really hope, as one of our loyal volunteers and supporters, you will think about supporting us in this very special way. Any gift – large or small – will make an incredible difference.

For more information, please contact our Legacy Manager, Jo Harding, on 01372 220083 or jo.harding@rainbowtrust.org.uk We have so many different ways – large and small – how people can get involved with Rainbow Trust - so why not give Andrea a call on 01372 220043 and pop in for a chat and a cuppa.

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, 6 Cleeve Court, Cleeve Road, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 7UD Registered Charity No. 1070532 rainbowtrust.org.uk

News from the Community Fundraising Team

After spending much of the winter dashing in and out of the rain, trying to reverse the wind damage done to our umbrellas and scraping the ice from our cars, everyone in the Community Fundraising Team is very much looking forward to spring and summer and all the fantastic opportunities the warmer weather brings!

Easter is just a few weeks away and we have been having a cracking time putting together an eggciting Easter fundraising pack. With ideas from Easter egg hunts to egg rolling competitions, we hope this pack will be a real smash with our fundraisers.

If you know a local school or children’s community group who may like one of our packs please let us know and we would be delighted to send them one.

Waitrose Community Matters Scheme Please can you help us collect as many Community Matters Scheme nomination forms as we can over the next few weeks?

You don’t need to shop in Waitrose, but if you’re passing just pop in and grab a few forms and send them to me at the office. Even better if you could complete the very quick and simple form, with my name - Lorraine Rudge, telephone number 01372 220085 and email address lorraine.rudge@ rainbowtrust.org.uk and pop it in the box in the store it would be really appreciated.

On Saturday 14 June we will be having a stall at Ashtead Village Day. Last year we had great fun with a wide range of activities including space hopper time trials, boys and girls lucky dips and a teddy bear tombola.

This year we are looking to do even more and it would be great if you can help us again.

We are also looking to recruit a team of volunteers who would like to run their own stalls at other local fairs over the summer.

Does your local school or church group host a summer fair, and would you like to run your own stall? Well we can help you. Please let us know about your plans and we will be able to provide you with collection tins, posters, balloons, t-shirts and other materials to help make your stall a great success!

In September we are looking to host a ‘Best of British’ classic car event at Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking. We are in the very early stages of putting this event together, but we would like to create a small committee of volunteers to assist us with the planning and execution of this new and exciting event. If you have a keen interest in classic cars or simply would like to get more hands on with the planning of this event, we would love to hear from you.

Once again thank you for all your fantastic support. We look forward to seeing you again over the coming months.

Nick and Lorraine

Staff are also getting involved and if each member of staff secured just one Community Matters in a local store that would mean a minimum of £20,000 for Rainbow Trust this financial year, which could fund the support for 10 families for a whole year. Just imagine what we could do if we all got involved.

Nick and Lorraine would like to give a huge thank you to all our volunteers who have helped at events

Volunteer Opportunities Volunteering at Rainbow Trust is a fantastic way for you to share your skills and knowledge with others, develop new skills, make new friends, help us to make a difference and most importantly, to have fun.

Do you know anyone who may be interested in joining our team?

We currently have a number of office-based opportunities in Cleeve Court. Could you spare a morning or afternoon or a day a week? If so we would love to hear from you.

Switchboard support – we are looking for people who could do a day a week helping to answer the phones and helping with general admin work. We currently have vacancies Monday to Thursday.

Do you have experience on eBay? – we currently have a vacancy for a day each week or a couple of half days to help us raise our income through eBay sales.

Opportunities with our fundraising teams – could you provide admin support to one of the fundraising teams?

Do you love a bargain and meeting new people?

Then why not come and join us in one of our shops in Leatherhead or Cheam.

Could you spare a morning or afternoon each week?

If you can please call Steve on 01372 378320 and book in for a taster session, he would love to hear from you.

Sporting Events We are looking for as many people as possible to help at our up-and-coming sporting events.

Cheer Point Volunteers - we need volunteers who love having fun and who can make lots of noise supporting our Rainbow Trust runners along the course Post-Race Reception – if cheering is not your thing we also need volunteers at the post-race reception. Roles include helping to set up - balloons, banners, marquee, etc.

- managing the massage waiting list and greeting runners and their family and friends post-race

Virgin London Marathon Sunday 13 April Bupa 10K, London Sunday 25 May If you would like to help at either of these events please contact Lauren on 01372 220016 or email lauren.butcher@rainbowtrust.org.uk

If you would like to know more about the different volunteer opportunities we have or if you would like to have a chat generally about volunteering please contact Andrea on 01372 220043 or email andrea.kelley@rainbowtrust.org.uk

News from our Friends of Rainbow Trust Essex Friends £100k Celebration

A HUGE thank you from Rainbow Trust

In February Heather Wood, Pete Smale from the Essex care team and Andrea Kelley joined the Harold Wood volunteer team at their £100k celebration. Each time the group raise another £100,000 they hold a celebration for all the volunteers. Fabulous food and waiter service was enjoyed courtesy of the students at Havering College.

To date the Harold Wood team has raised an incredible £737,634. A huge thank you to you all.

International Women’s Day Pauline and Jill attended their local event and had a stall in the recycling area, helping to raise the profile of Rainbow Trust along with another £103.20 towards the Harold Wood team’s income for this year.

Rainbow Trust is incredibly grateful to all the Friends Groups who work tirelessly to raise funds and raise our profile in their local areas. As well as recruiting a team of volunteers who would like to run their own stalls at local events; we are also looking to start more friends groups, so if you and a friend or group of friends would be interested in starting a group in your local area please give Lorraine Rudge a call on 01372 220085.

Thank you!

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