Far from showing any signs of fatigue from the already impressive flurry of altruistic activity by those in the greeting card community, in fact the pace has hotted up considerably with publishers, retailers and suppliers directing their talents in different directions to help those less fortunate than themselves.
Here is just a smattering of some of the uplifting activity that has come to light in the last few days…
Elle Media Group Provides Hope Over The Rainbow
Basildon-based charity card publisher, printer and creative agency, Elle Media Group is providing comfort to those in need – in a number of different ways.
In just over a week since the company’s managing director James Cuthbert had a conversation with Rebecca McCulloch, Elle’s product & creative director about just what they could do as a business, their idea, Bright Rainbow was up and running as up a not-for-profit initiative to help those in the frontline of Covid-19,
“I really wanted to something to help, and as many of us had become members of various social media groups, making small donations here and there to help improve the plight of fantastic carers,” James told PG Buzz. He spotted that there were two recurrent cries from the frontline carers in the social media groups, “shortages of certain items, and discomfort from others”.
Confronting both of these issues and more in one inspired swoop, the not-for-profit Bright Rainbow initiative, which has the tagline line of ‘Help those that help others’, is now offering comfortable ear protectors/face mask extension devices, face shields and other frontline PPE in support for carers and healthcare workers in NHS, care homes and hospices.
All of these are being manufactured by Elle’s parent company which has converted its manufacturing lines to do so (again on a not for profit basis).
While the first batch of proceeds is being used to fund materials all donations and monies after that will be distributed to the partner charities on this project which are NHS Charities Together, Hospice UK and National Care Association.
James revealed that the initiative has got off to a great start. “We launched our ear savers on Facebook Friday night, and our launch post had been shared and reached 40,000 people in 48 hours. We have since interacted with over 1,000 carers and are sending out our first 500 requests this week, including the new Nightingale Hospital in London.
The first 10,000 units were allocated in hours and we are now about to start production on 1,000,000 items to keep up with demand.”
The Bright Rainbow web shop is in the final throes of going live (www.brightrainbow.co.uk). This will also offer some specially designed thinking of you/isolation/positivity greeting card packs.
A new focus group has also been formed called Bright Rainbow NHSconnect where frontline workers can post a request of what they need.
Birthday Greetings For Captain Tom Moore
Having now raised more than £27 million (and counting) for NHS Charities Together by making laps of his garden in the run up to his 100th birthday on April 30, war veteran Captain Tom Moore is set to be showered in a sea of birthday cards that benefits the glory he deserves.
As of today, the Northampton-based mail centre, which deals with his post, has dealt with 25,000 cards for Tom, but that number is set to rise much higher by the time of his birthday.
Scribbler, which has been giving away free cards for NHS and key workers from its website, but the retailers has now rolled that out to include the option to send Tom a free birthday card for reaching the milestone age of 100! All you need to do is include your birthday wishes inside using the site’s personalise function, add the card to your Scribbler basket and use the code
THANKYOUNHS which will completely remove the cost of the card and P&P.
Also keen to honour of Captain Tom Moore’s outstanding effort of raising money for our NHS heroes ahead of his 100th birthday celebration, online greeting card company thortful.com has confirmed it is donating 100% of the profits for every 100th milestone birthday card sold up until Tom’s birthday on 30 April.
Greeting card publishers have been keen to create their own special cards to send to this modern day hero in good time for his special milestone.
Inspired by Captain Tom’s incredible and heart-warming story, Rebecca Green, owner and creative of Raspberry Blossom has created a special card that is being sold to raise further funds for NHS Charities Together, with profits from the sale of the card being donated to the cause. The design centres around the memorable words Captain Tom said in a BBC interview just after he completed his 100th lap of his garden. Tom was asked what advice he had for people who might be anxious as a result of Covid-19. His poignant and uplifting words were “The sun will shine again and the clouds will go away”.
Rebecca designed the card and working with Adam Short at The Imaging Centre, they were on sale within a matter of days, with The Imaging Centre forgoing the production costs for the cards. The card can be bought directly from raspberryblossom.com where you can also have a handwritten personal message included and sent directly to the recipient for free. Additionally, the design can also be purchased from Imaging Centre’s ICS direct to consumer platform.
Anyone wishing to send a card to Captain Tom’s for his 100th Birthday on 30 April should be addressed:
Captain Tom Moore, C/O Post Office Limited, 67 Bedford Road, Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, MK43 0LA. England
House Of Cards Adds Some Sweetness To The Situation
Award-winning Home Counties card retail group, House of Cards has added some sweetness to the lives of those having to rely on foodbanks as well as patients of two hospitals and one hospice.
When the retail lockdown happened, House of Cards found itself with over £4,000 worth of confectionery in stock that co-owners Miles Robinson and Nigel Williamson “did not want to see go to waste – or to our waists!”.
As a result it has also now been divided up and donated to food banks in Reading, Thatcham and Chalfont as well as to the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Great Ormond Street and the Willen Hospice near Milton Keynes.
Top: The new not-for-profit initiative from Elle Media Group.
