Southern Co-op Funeralcare Hosts Race Night for Charity
Colleagues from The Southern Co-operative Funeralcare across the Isle of Wight hosted a Race Night at the Newport Football Club raising over £1,000 for disabled children’s charity, Whizz-Kidz.
The Isle’s funeral homes in East Cowes, Freshwater, Lake, Newport and Shanklin clubbed together to host the Race Night, where each race was sponsored by a local company and all race horses were bought by The Southern Co-operative colleagues and friends. The winning owner of each race horse was presented with a bottle of Prosecco.
The Southern Co-operative Funeralcare homes on the Isle of Wight hosted a Race Night to raise over £1,000 for disabled children’s charity.
Sue Sleight, Funeral Co-ordinator for The Southern Co-operative Funeralcare in Freshwater said:
“What a great, fun night we had! We were all surprised and delighted with the amount of money we managed to raise which came to a staggering £1,076.17! About 60 people attended and all really enjoyed the night, although it certainly got a bit noisy as each race neared the finishing line”.
The Race Night formed part of The Southern Co-operative Funeralcare’s service-wide fundraiser hoping to conclude their charity partnership with Whizz-Kidz, with a bang, adding a cash boost to the £335,000 already raised by The Southern Co-operative.
The fundraiser, ‘Release the Piece’, involves all 59 branches and services from The Southern Co-operative Funeralcare receiving one section of a giant jigsaw puzzle, to ‘Release the Piece’ of the puzzle and to help it form the overall jigsaw image, each branch and service must host a fundraiser in aid of the disabled children’s charity, Whizz-Kidz.
Amanda Wilkinson, Director of Fundraising for Whizz-Kidz said:
“My huge thanks to the colleagues of The Southern Co-operative Funeralcare for their support for Whizz-Kidz. We’re delighted that so many colleagues are getting involved in the ‘Release the Piece’ fundraising challenge, aiming to help the partnership raise an additional £5,000. This fantastic sum is enough to enable us to provide a disabled child with a life-changing powered wheelchair, giving them the freedom and independence they need to enjoy a fun, active childhood.”
Throughout March and April, all 59 branches and services, including their funeral homes, florist, crematorium, masonry and natural burial ground, will be holding local fundraisers, ranging from a colleague car wash with cake, a Race Night, samba band busking and book sales. Once each branch has held its fundraiser, the jigsaw puzzle will be put together by an ambassador from Whizz-Kidz who will announce the total raised for the charity.
Amanda continued:
“The right wheelchair is just the start, The Southern Co-operative is also raising funds to help us deliver our skills training, youth groups, residential camps, and work skills programmes, helping young disabled people gain the skills and opportunities they need to reach their true potential.”
