Every year we organise fundraising activities at DriveWorks HQ. In previous years we have raised money for charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support, Cancer Research UK and the Alzheimer’s Society, as well as raising funds for an onsite defibrillator. The Warrington Running Festival took place on 25th September, with many team members getting involved, and we were fundraising for another cause very close to home.
In the past we’ve also raised money for Bliss for Babies, a charity nominated by one of our team members who was supported by the charity when their baby was born 8 weeks premature and spent 6 weeks in neonatal intensive care and the special care baby unit.
Premature babies have a greater risk of brain injuries and following their time in the special care baby unit, further tests confirmed significant damage to the left side of the brain.
The formal diagnosis of this is a type of cerebral palsy called right-sided hemiplegia, which means that the muscles on that side of the body are tense, and can result in muscular weakness.
Now 4 years old, this has an impact on their independence and day to day life, however there are therapies and equipment that can massively improve functionality and quality of life.
All of these additional resources, equipment and therapies can be very expensive. As a team we decided to dedicate this year’s fundraising efforts to helping fund access to therapies and resources that can help their mobility and independence.
Before the running festival, we held a bake sale, an Easter Raffle, a Eurovision sweepstake and a Grand National sweepstake to kick off the fundraising.
On the 25th September, Warrington hosted a running festival with a 5k, 10k and Half Marathon in and around Warrington Town Centre. All routes started and finished at the Town Hall’s iconic Golden Gates.
There are many keen runners in our team who all signed up to take part, and gathered donations to raise money towards the fund.
Many members of the team were preparing for the event well in advance, going out together to run 5ks after work and sharing their tips on how to maintain energy during the big run. There was also talks of the best way to prepare in the week running up to the event.
There were 13 runners from the office that took on the challenge, from all teams at DriveWorks.
Taking part in either the 10k or the half marathon, all runners did extremely well at preparing and supporting each other on the day of the event.
The event coincided with Heather’s visit to DriveWorks HQ in the UK. Heather had flown in from Colorado for a catch-up with the team, to host a regional in-person SWUGN event, and as a seasoned runner, having run the Boston Marathon in the past, Heather was delighted to be able to take part in this event with the team.
We also had members of the team supporting from the side-lines, cheering everyone on and providing drinks and snacks at the finish line. Mark, from our Development Team also went along with his camera and took some great shots of our team along the route and at the finish line.
The runners appreciated the encouragement from the rest of the team and are very grateful for all of the donations received from family and friends in the run up to the event.
Sporting activities from this weekend raised an amazing total of £4,184!
A huge well done and thank you to everyone who took part by running, cycling, supporting, sharing and donating – it’s all made a huge difference to the fundraising pot. We couldn’t have raised so much without you all.
We will be continuing with our fundraising for the rest of the year. We have got lots of plans and ideas for fundraising and we look forward to sharing our progress throughout the year on our blog.
“It’s been both a pleasure and a privilege to run to raise money and learn more about sports nutrition.”
“It was a fantastic event to be a part of and great to see so many of the DriveWorks team getting involved.”
“Thank you to those who came to cheer us on. And a massive thank you to the sponsors / donators!”
“I’m really proud to be part of the DriveWorks fundraising team and really appreciated all that were there to support.”
“What a great time to spend together running and also raising money for a great cause!”
“It was fantastic to see everyone coming together for a great cause.”