What we have achieved?

Our first Charity as the newly formed MAD Friends was Acorns Children’s Hospice, a cause that really tugged on all our heart strings following our first visit to the Walsall hospice at the beginning of our fundraising year.

The care offered to life limited and life threatened children, young people and their families was precious and relies so much on the generosity of the public.  The children and young people are not expected to reach adulthood and require specialist care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Our campaign was overwhelmingly supported by friends, associates and local businesses in the area with our sell out event of 150 guests generating £14,000 for the hospice.  There were few dry eyes in the house when hospice spokesperson, Dan, described to the audience just how much our efforts meant to the children and families that Acorns support.

Deciding which charities to nominate next was not obvious as we felt extremely attached to Acorns.   This decision was sadly made for us when Amanda’s mother was given the very sad news that the cancer that she had been battling with for years had got the better of her.  Although not a local charity, we felt in the light of the sad situation we must choose Macmillan Cancer Support in appreciation of the care given to Amanda’s mother.  This awful condition seems to affect almost everyone in one way or another so it was no surprise that once again the generosity was vast.  This campaign generated £10,900.

A conscious decision was made to ensure that the next campaign put us back on track to become involved with a charity on a very local level.  Sutton Coldfield Special Olympics approached Julia and after considering a number of causes we decided that their work with youths and young adults with disabilities really needed our support. The £9,800 raised went towards buying new kit for the members, days out and to enable some members to compete in the National Special Olympics in 2010.  Our commitment was acknowledged by Kevin Stableford of SCSO with the following quote, “We have greatly enjoyed working with MAD Friends and truly amazed with the amount raised.  Their tireless energy and enthusiasm together with a professional approach and attention to detail was very impressive. The money raised will make a tremendous difference.”

For our 2010/2011 campaign we were drawn towards Midlands Air Ambulance who touched the hearts of our supporters, old and new. This was due to the magnitude of the assistance provided within the local area during that period, in addition to it being such a significant life saving service. Our total of £19,000 far exceeded our expectations for this campaign.

A new challenge has arisen for us for the 2011/2012 campaign with our decision to raise funds for a mix of two well deserving charities, both supporting our overseas and homecoming injured troops. We are positive that the combination of our beneficiaries Troop Aid and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Military Patients Fund will evoke magnificient conviction from our supporters. We are hugely excited about the campaign ahead. For further information see our “Current Charity Page”