I choose to fundraise for Beat to raise money and awareness for eating disorders; this is something very personal to me as I have seen it destroy the start of my childhood as a young boy. It’s not something that gets spoken about either and awareness of it needs to be shared and information passed on. I just want to raise funds to help anyway I can as I know how much of a damaging and lasting impact it can have on families and people closest to them.
Fundraising ideas, due to the nature of the last year and the pandemic, have had to be a lot more creative than usual, especially when trying to get people involved from the comfort of their own homes. I come from a family of creatives anyway, so my eldest brother thought why not do “Tea and a treat for Beat”. This is just a fun idea going back to our primary school days of the old tea towels we used to get with our faces drawn on. For our fundraising challenge we just asked people to donate a little money and draw their favourite treat they like with a cup of tea.
The response has been amazing and raised so much so far and is still going. We have lots more ideas to come! In such strange and testing times, the response has been overwhelming and positive and its incredible how people can come together and still donate such fantastic sums of money to such an amazing cause. I’m very humbled by how much love has been sent my way and the general support in running the marathon for Beat has been lovely.
The most positive thing for my family and I is to keep spreading the message to people and raising as much awareness as possible for what Beat does and that’s so, so important! The more people who learn of and spread the message about Beat is only a good thing and I’m going to reach my fundraising target with the help of my friends and family to raise all the money I can to support.
My only advice I can give for anyone deciding to fundraise, is just give it 110%. Like anything, do it properly! Be as creative and unique as you can in your ideas – make it fun and enjoyable for yourself and the people you’re reaching out to. The more fun and relaxing the task, the more everyone will want to get involved from all ages. You have to put all of your heart into it – you will get so much out of it.
You can see Sam’s fundraising page for Beat below:
Rosie discusses her experience of fundraising at university for Beat.
Iona discusses how fundraising for Beat through making and customising bracelets helped her in her recovery.
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