Charity cheque handover sees target doubled, as Cardgains announces 2024 challenge
Cardgains had 50,000 reasons to thank the greeting card industry yesterday, 5 February, as that was the amount on the cheque handed over to the MND Association at Spring Fair.
The presentation of the incredible total, double the initial target, on Cardgains Village – stand 3M10-N11 at the ongoing show at Birmingham’s NEC – was the culmination of the buying group’s Look Out London charity challenge, where 50 cardies completed a 25-mile walk around the capital.
And now it’s all hands on deck for the 35th anniversary challenge, the It’s Not Grim Up North 35-mile stroll around Cardgains’ Sheffield home area with a £35,000 target for the mental health charity Mind.
Group md Penny Shaw is hopeful of great support for the latest event, following the incredible efforts in memory of industry legend David Hicks, founder of Really Good and Soul, whose life was cut short by motor neurone disease.
“Without the support of companies like Cardgains, it wouldn’t be possible for us to deliver our range of care services that provide essential support for all those affected by MND,” explained Charlotte Taylor, the association’s corporate partnership executive who collected the cheque, “or to invest in ground-breaking research that leads to new understanding of the disease, effective treatment and, ultimately, a cure.
“I’d like to thank everyone who supported this event for helping to make a real difference to people affect by mnd.”
Following the presentation, Penny announced the 2024 Cardgains Charity Challenge which will be the Sheffield Round Walk 15-mile loop that connects the steel city’s centre with its surrounding countryside.
With the extra link between the walk’s Endcliffe Park start and finish point and the hotel base it’s actually a 17½ mile route which Penny has generously suggested challengers can do twice to make up the headline 35 miles.
And she laughed: “It is a hilly one, I’m not going to lie, Sheffield is built on seven hills so the walkers will probably visit most of them!”
Explaining the charity of choice for this year’s challenge, Penny said: “We chose Mind because there is a lot about mental health for people day to day and everyone is becoming more aware of the issues in some of the saddest situations. It’s at the forefront of the news.
“There’s a £35,000 target for our 35th anniversary, everybody whose ever been involved previously will get the email!”
There’s a sign-up sheet on Cardgains’ stand for anyone visiting or exhibiting at Spring Fair, which runs through until 4pm tomorrow, Wednesday, 7 February, and the JustGiving donations page has already been set up.
And visitors to the stand should keep an eye out for the matching outfits Penny and new finance director Helen McManus are sporting, a different nifty red and black ensemble each day in keeping with the buying group’s colours.
