Charity

GROCERYAID

GroceryAid’s sporting event raises £633k

The Sporting Lunch saw more than 1,200 colleagues from 198 companies raise funds through tickets sales, donations, and sponsorship.

GroceryAid’s annual Sporting Lunch raised more than £633,000 – a record fundraising amount for the event – earlier this month.

The Sporting Lunch, which returned to the Grosvenor House in London, saw more than 1,200 colleagues from 198 companies raise funds through tickets sales, donations and sponsorship.

Hosts Natalie Pinkham and Mike Tindall led the day, which included interviews with football legend Sir Geoff Hurst, rower Helen Glover, and hockey player Kate Richardson-Walsh, and a final Q&A panel with former intern tional rugby player James Haskell and former England cricket captain Sir Alistair Cook.

The event also welcomed a line-up of sporting talent including Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey–Thompson, retired English international field hockey player Alex Dansen, skiier Chemmy Alcott, former footballers Dion Dublin, Don Hutchison and Robbie Savage, rower James Cracknell, swimmer Jazmin Carlin, former footballer Kelly Smith, retired rugby union player Lewis Moody, retired cricketers Monty Panesar and Ryan Sidebottom, and snooker legend Steve Davis.

At the lunch, GroceryAid President Charles Wilson, also introduced its latest case study called ‘Ricky’s Story’. Ricky, a lorry driver for Noble Foods, experienced a traumatic event which led to severe PTSD. He had to take time off work, which impacted him financially, he turned to a colleague recommended GroceryAid where he received financial help.

Steve Barnes, GroceryAid Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to have raised such a phenomenal amount of money and grateful for the support of companies throughout the industry.

“Demand for our services is accelerating rapidly. In the last six months, we experienced a 120% increase in applications for financial support and a 52% increase in calls to our helpline, compared to the whole of last year.”

● Next year’s Sporting Lunch will takeplace on Friday 11 November 2022.