ANWYL Homes Lancashire may have topped the leader board in a charity challenge, but the real winner is Derian House Children’s Hospice.
The charity tasked businesses with raising as much money as possible from £50, with more than 20 companies taking part.
Staff from Anwyl’s Buckshaw Village based Lancashire operation embraced the challenge raising a massive £11,150. Impressed by their efforts, this was then doubled to £22,300 by the Anwyl family.
Mathew Anwyl explained: “Anwyl is a family-run business, building predominantly family homes, and so we really appreciate the vital work of Derian House in supporting children and parents locally. Our Lancashire team did such a fantastic job raising money for Derian that as a family we decided to match their fundraising to help even more people.”
Anwyl Lancashire’s commercial team, led by Dave Lancaster, started the challenge with a bake sale, before handing over to the technical department who went quackers – Ian McCann dressed as a duck for a day, including wearing his costume for a board meeting, before quacking around the carpark while colleagues threw wet sponges at him.
Further cash was scored through a charity football match organized by the construction department, which was followed by a ‘guess the amount of sweets in a box’ challenge. The sales department auctioned off ex-show home items to raise further funds
The grand finale was a Three Peaks Challenge in which a 10-strong team scaled Scafell Pike three times in 15 hours.
Area sales manager Amy Houlihan explained: “It costs so much money to run a children’s hospice like Derian House. It’s not just about end of life care – there’s a whole support network for families. They are there to support families who have lost children suddenly, siblings who don’t understand what’s going on, and provide respite care for children with life limiting conditions. It’s a truly magical place. The families whose children’ are being cared for shouldn’t be the ones raising money – it should be people like us so that they can spend time with their children. It’s such an invaluable cause and we’re pleased to have been able to do our bit to support the charity.”
Caroline Taylor, Head of Income, Marketing and Communications at Derian House, said: “We’re grateful to all of the businesses who took part in the challenge with innovative ways of growing their £50 pot to help the hospice. The Anwyl Lancashire team topped the leader board with their fundraising even before the Anwyl family stepped in with their generous donation. With the matched funding, we could pay a hospice nurse for around five months or provide hundreds of counselling sessions to help families cope with illness and bereavement.”
While the initial challenge is now complete, Anwyl’s Lancashire business has adopted Derian as its charity of the year and will be taking part in further fundraisers in support of the hospice.
