Supporter of the month
Meet some of the people who inspire us every day.
What is supporter of the month?
At the British Red Cross, we are lucky to have so many wonderful supporters, volunteers and volunteering groups. Each month we shout about their amazing achievements and give them the recognition they rightly deserve.
Read on to meet our supporters of the month for 2024 so far!
December 2024 - Hexham Committee
The Hexham Fundraising Committee organises the yearly Northumberland Christmas Fair in aid of the Red Cross. Stallholders donate between 10-50% of their takings from the fair. The committee organises corporate sponsorship, including a donation of stock from Barbour International.
They have adapted their planning over the years, implementing digital and social media marketing to increase their reach. They also organise the donation of any unsold Barbour stock to our retail team. Over the years, they have collectively helped raise close to £250k.
November 2024 - Louisa Roberts
Louisa celebrated her birthday by fundraising for the British Red Cross, raising vital funds through our new festive fundraising campaign Go Red For Humanity.
Louisa said, ‘I’m so grateful to have made it through another year of life. I will be 50 again on 3 November and to celebrate this achievement, I set up a page to raise funds for the British Red Cross’s Go Red campaign.'
October 2024 – Ruth Nelmes
Ruth Nelmes first supported the Red Cross with an online donation to the Ukraine Crisis Appeal. Just over a year later, she ran the London Marathon for us and raised an amazing £5,434, absolutely smashing her £2,000 target.
Soon afterwards, Ruth joined an abseil challenge down the famous Lloyd’s building as part of our regional corporate partnership with Lloyd’s. Ruth not only jumped at the chance to support the Red Cross again, but convinced 8 of her colleagues to sign up, too! Together, they raised over £4,000 from over 90 supporters, again going way above and beyond their £2,250 target.
September 2024 – Oscar
Oscar has volunteered for 6 months helping families who were separated by conflict and crisis to be reunited in the UK and Europe.
To help raise funds for our family reunion work, Oscar took part in the Wilmslow triathlon in Manchester on 22 September. His efforts raised an amazing £310.
"I am passionate about helping refugees and supporting their right to have a family, especially as many families across the globe are separated due to stresses outside of their control, such as war, persecution and humanitarian disaster. Volunteering for the British Red Cross has allowed me to put my passion into action".
August 2024 - Hugh Sellars
Hugh completed the 10-mile Strait of Gibraltar swim from Tarifa in Spain to Morocco. He didn’t know until the last minute if it would go ahead due to high winds and currents. Luckily, it was fine and, thankfully, he didn't encounter any orcas or sharks!
“It was a relief to get back on the support boat”, Hugh said after completing the swim with no wetsuit. Luckily, the water was warm!
Hugh was supported by his employer, Aviva, through their matching funding scheme, which added an additional £1,000 to his total. With this, Hugh raised an amazing £2,340!
July 2024 - StrathPetal Volunteering Group
Taking a risk paid off for people living in Strathpeffer, near Inverness, this summer. Together, they organised ‘StrathPetal’ the village’s very first Open Gardens weekend, raising £2,400 for the British Red Cross.
The team dealt with the usual ‘unknowns’: how many people would come, parking, catering and, of course, the weather. But at the heart of the event’s success was a village-wide determination to raise money for those in need at home and abroad.
June 2024 - Tom and Ivy
Our supporters of the month for June are two young primary school friends, Tom and Ivy. Following a talk and presentation on helping people, the pair organised their own board games event. Charging 50p per game, their personal challenge was to raise £100 to 'help those less fortunate'.
Horrendous weather meant that many people couldn’t be there on the day. But Tom and Ivy’s resilience to carry on stood out to us - they managed to raise an amazing £302!
May 2024 - Sian Superman
Our supporter of the month for May was Sian Superman, who completed a live draw for Eurovision, her tenth year running!
Sian painted 26 acts in real time with less than three minutes per painting, raising £1,205 for our Ukraine Appeal from 54 supporters. She then rewarded 26 lucky donors with one of her rapid watercolour masterpieces.
April 2024 - Three peaks challenge
At only 8 years old, our April supporter of the month is an incredible young person motivated by a wish to help others and make a difference in the world. She has now successfully climbed 3 mountains in only 5 days: Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales. This included trekking 23 miles (37km) and a total ascent of 3,064 meters (10,052ft), raising a fantastic £1,320.
“It was challenging but it was also a great adventure that I thoroughly enjoyed,” she said.
"It has shown me that even if you are little you can still achieve amazing things. Standing on the summit of Ben Nevis was the highlight for me. For a few seconds I was the tallest person in the UK, which was such a cool feeling.”
March 2024 - Beatriz Sanchez
Beatriz was instrumental to the success of many fundraising events in 2023 and 2024. One of the most impressive was volunteering to help organise the Scotland Ball in March that raised an incredible £60,000.
Her selfless nature and her kind, caring instincts shine through in everything she does. She is inspirational - bringing passion, unrivalled drive, enthusiasm and expertise to any task.
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