Inspirational fundraisers - Kevin Robbins
26th November 2021
Inspirational fundraisers - Kevin Robbins
£15,500. That’s Demelza’s yearly food bill at our South East London hospice. At our hospices, blended diets, complex nutritional requirements and religious beliefs are all catered for. Being able to sit around a table together, and enjoy a hot meal that has been prepared for them, can mean the world to a family that never seems to have enough time in the day or has been living off of hospital food. Sometimes it isn’t the big-ticket events that make the most lasting memories, it is the seemingly innocuous moments that can mean the most.
Continuing our ‘inspirational fundraisers’ series, we speak to Kevin Robbins about ‘The 100 Challenge’ which raised a remarkable £15,000 (plus Gift Aid) for our Eltham hospice in memory of his nephew Sonny. Sonny was supported by Demelza throughout his life, until he passed away at the age of four in 2012.
Fundraising in memory of Sonny
Kevin wanted to get 100 people to raise £100 each in sponsorship on a single day, with the aim of raising a grand total of £10,000. “I think when fundraising in memory of someone the whole thing from start to finish is extremely emotional. As the challenge grew and more and more people got involved, I just became prouder and prouder. It was a real family effort. I think we did Sonny really proud. The success was definitely a surprise, I never imagined we'd reach the £10,000 target, let alone hit £15,000.
“One thing we always talk about is how amazing Demelza were to Sonny, and all of our family. We can never repay them, so doing this is tiny in comparison to what they did for us. In all honesty, talking and thinking about Sonny is really lovely and really difficult at the same time. Being his uncle was the greatest gift. So, if we can continue to help and make him proud, we will. We will definitely be doing this again and hope to make it even bigger.”
The 100 Challenge took place in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown, on Saturday 6 June 2020. Kevin had the wonderful idea of bringing many of his participants together on the day via Zoom: “I think all in all we had over 70 participants. Some on Zoom, some in parks, some in back gardens sending pictures and videos. I think we were on the Zoom for four to five hours. It was incredible, there were definitely a lot of tears on the day.”
Asking Kevin who were his standout fundraisers from the day, he shares: “Our little cousin Olly took part, he smashed his basketball challenge. We've always told all the kids about Sonny - so seeing them get involved was really special. Especially Sonny's sister Roxy who did a cycle challenge in Sutcliffe Park and his cousins all also did amazing challenges. I think the other standout was my partner, Blaise, who shaved his head live on Zoom. He raised £1,200 in about 30 mins!”.
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The 100 Challenge
