Become a friend summer 2014

Become a friend Summer 2014

Message from Andrea Kelley, Volunteer Development Manager Welcome to our summer edition of Become a Friend. The last few months have been very busy at Rainbow Trust, with our fundraising teams chasing all outstanding income, before our financial year end at the end of June.

The rebranding project is well underway, and we hope to be sharing this with you all in the next few weeks, and of course we celebrated Volunteers’ Week at the beginning of July. We start our new financial year on 1 July and we have lots of plans for the year ahead.

Thank you for all your help in 2013/14 and we look forward to your continued support over the coming year.

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Celebrating Rainbow Trust Volunteers Sponsored by Cargill In June Rainbow Trust celebrated Volunteers’ Week across the organisation.

A Vintage Tea Party was hosted in Essex to celebrate the hard work of 80 volunteers who help to make the Essex volunteer groups such a success. A piece of Rainbow Trust artwork was presented to the Manager of the Upminster shop, Connie Hawkins, to thank the Upminster team for their support over the last five years. At the same time, Patron Pauline Obee MBE, received a Long-Service Recognition Award on behalf of the Harold Wood Friends Group in recognition of their 21 years of dedication to Rainbow Trust.

St John’s School in Leatherhead hosted our Surrey event for 60 volunteers in the beautiful setting of their Old Chapel in the school grounds. The volunteers were not only treated to wonderful food, but also had the opportunity to listen to Liz Dale, whose family is currently supported by our Surrey Care Team.

We would like to say a massive thank you to CARGILL for sponsoring these events and enabling Rainbow Trust to thank the many volunteers who help week in week out in the community, in our shops, offices and with our care teams.

We have so many different ways – large and small – for people to 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

Volunteers Making a Difference Paul Sippitt, a Family Support Volunteer in Swindon, reveals the joys of giving back “After meeting families that are going through such painful times, I realise my life is not so bad after all.”

Aircraft engineering teacher, Paul, has given his time for many years to help his students progress their careers. However, the fun 50-year-old wasn’t content with just one job, choosing to give up his free time to help out at Rainbow Trust.

Getting involved “I decided to volunteer after a visit from Rainbow Trust to my ATC squadron,” explains Paul, who helps out once a month either visiting families in hospital or at drop-in centres. “They explained what Rainbow Trust was about and the work involved and that volunteers were required in all aspects of their work. I then had an interview and the relevant DBS checks and here I am!”

And it doesn’t matter how little time you have to give, as Paul explains.

“My work for Rainbow Trust is limited, owing to my day job, so I only tend to do drop-in meetings once a month as well as some hospital visits. The drop-in groups consist of meeting families and siblings.

Mainly just talking, playing games and generally making people feel welcome. I enjoy every second.”

Reality check Paul adds: “Rightly or wrongly I find volunteering for Rainbow Trust a huge reality check on life. I tend to moan about the everyday things, but after meeting families that are going through such painful times, I realise my life is not so bad after all. I would recommend Rainbow Trust to anyone thinking of volunteering.

It’s a great community to be with. Go out and do it!”

At Rainbow Trust our volunteers play a vital part in helping us to succeed in what we do. They are important in spreading the word of Rainbow Trust and encouraging others to take part in our fundraising events. One of our volunteers, Esther Mingos, encouraged her husband Adam to take part in the annual Three Peaks Challenge, simply by taking home one of our leaflets.

After hearing about the challenge, Adam was very keen to contribute to the charity. Even though the Three Peaks Challenge was tough, Adam, alongside his friend Pete Anson, who he encouraged to also take part, completed the challenge and were successful in raising over £7,000.

Adam says, “I asked my friend and he was keen to take part too, so we did. It was a great challenge, tough but worthwhile.”

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

Volunteers Making a Difference Lucy Shaw – Retail Assistant Seventeen-year-old Lucy Shaw, from Dorking, started volunteering for Rainbow Trust in November 2013, and she’s never looked back.

“I started volunteering for Rainbow Trust because I come from a family of eight, where I am surrounded by children, so a children’s charity was something that I felt strongly about.

Plus Rainbow Trust looked like a community I wanted to be part of,” says Lucy, who told her story as part of national Volunteers’ Week.

“Before I joined Rainbow Trust, I was struggling, like many of my friends, to find part-time work that fitted around my college course. I felt that my time was more well spent volunteering than sitting at home doing nothing.

Through volunteering for Rainbow Trust I have gained retail experience and learned how to work with the public, and it has given me a sense of belonging.”

New Skills “I found out about Rainbow Trust through my college. We have a volunteering booklet which shows all the volunteering opportunities in the local area, and I was having a look through and found an advert for them. I instantly loved the idea of volunteering for this charity. I volunteer in the Leatherhead Rainbow Trust shop, so an average day for me includes talking to customers and answering their questions, working on the till, sorting and tagging clothes and other donated items, getting the clothes ready to put out, and arranging the shop floor. I also take pride in the books being in height order! I love working with all the other friendly and amazing shop volunteers and I usually end up coming home with new clothes, toys and other goods, which I buy in the shop every single time! Occasionally I help to run stalls and hand out balloons and even had the pleasure of dressing up as Zippy and walking round town meeting local children. What an experience!”

Come and Join us…

“I would strongly recommend anyone to volunteer for Rainbow Trust. The work they do is truly inspiring and to be part of this and to help them is an absolute honour that I am incredibly proud of. Before I started volunteering, I never considered shopping in a charity shop instead of the big high-street stores. I was pleasantly surprised by Rainbow Trust’s shop.

Our branch has rails of designer clothes, including items that have been donated by major high-street names. Recently, Rainbow Trust received a huge donation from the makers of Peppa Pig. It had everything you could ever want that was Peppa Pig-themed. It was amazing as a member of staff to see the queues of people buying the stock. It is a pleasure to be part of the team and the Rainbow Trust charity shops are well worth the visit! Thank you Rainbow Trust!”

The Rewards “The best bit about being a volunteer is seeing that what I do as a volunteer in the shop is helping to raise money to help families and their children. It is the most rewarding feeling. Another aspect I love about working for the charity is the outstanding community of workers, care teams and volunteers, who are all lovely as well as being passionate about what they do. Rainbow Trust has helped me gain a lot of confidence in myself and has made my love for them even bigger than it already is.”

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 The Harold Wood Group had a bumper quarter, raising £13,000, which takes their overall total for this year to an incredible

£55,850. Ryan Scott and his friend, Lewis Hagland (pictured left) took part in the London Marathon and raised a fantastic £3,053, with support from the Harold Wood Group.

In April, the Romford Snooker Club held a Charity Snooker Night (pictured right) in aid of Rainbow Trust. Patron Pauline Obee MBE attended the event, along with Counsellor Pam Light, who spoke about the work of Rainbow Trust. We are still waiting for the final amount raised, but a good night was had by all.

Hampshire Friends The last quarter has been a very busy time for our Hampshire Friends, who hosted four fabulous fundraising events for Rainbow Trust. The first was a Quiz Night at their local village hall, where an incredible £15,000 was raised. This was quickly followed by the annual Blue Bell Walk in May, where the rain did not hamper spirits and the group managed to raise £800. Following this, long-term Rainbow Trust supporter and fashion designer, Selina Blow, was the guest speaker at their third event, a Boutique Fashion Show and Sale at the lovely home of Ann Marie, where Selina helped them to raise a further £3,400. Finally, in June Natasha Rougier hosted a Boutique Sale and Raffle at her home and exceeded expectations by raising £1,100.

In total our fantastic Friends raised just over £20,000, bringing their total for this financial year to £46,804. Amazing!

Thank you from everyone at Rainbow Trust.

The Great British Teddy Bear and Dolls Convention In May, community fundraiser, Zoe Clark, was delighted to attend The Great British Teddy Bear and Dolls Convention, hosted at the Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Milton Keynes. This fantastic event was organised by Jayne Seddon and was a great success.

We would like to extend our thanks to all those who assisted with preparations for the event and got involved on the day to support Rainbow Trust.

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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