Fortalice Awareness Review & Comments
Following the success of our first volunteer day back in October, the Box Power Team were keen to get back out into the community and get hands on once again with our charity partners. This month we asked Fortalice, a local charity who helps to support survivors of domestic abuse, what they needed help with.
They asked us to assist with an awareness stall that they held at Tesco in Horwich on the 30th November. We were asked to assist with gift wrapping, bag packing and collecting donations at the awareness stall.
10:30am: The Box Power team met the lovely Grace (Fundraiser Manager at Fortalice) at Tesco, and assisted her in setting up the Fortalice stall, setting up all of the banners and leaflets to advertise the cause that we were supporting – we also gift wrapped some of the buckets and tried to make the space feel a little festive.
11am: Benjamin and Kirsty took some of the collection buckets to the tills and offered to pack bags for people finishing up their shopping, Benjamin was a hit with all of the kids in his light up Rudolph jumper! Claire and Jo manned the awareness stall and advertised their gift wrapping services.
12-1pm: The team took in in turns to go for their lunch, Benjamin was even kind enough to share his cocktail sausages with a couple of ladies who donated generously.
1pm: The team continued with their duties, chatting to the public about the wonderful work that Fortalice do and collecting donations.
2pm: We were met by a member of the band that Fortalice had asked to come and support their awareness stall. We handed over donation buckets and watched them set up ahead of their performance.
2:30pm: The band began to play! They were incredible, singing a number of classic hits A cappella – we do have to admit to sneaking away from our duties for a couple of minutes to watch them. The Elvis impersonations were very smooth!
3:30pm: Unfortunately we had come to the end of the day, so we helped to pack the stall away and handed over our donations. In total our team raised in excess of £100, we are sure that the amazing Fortalice team will be able to put it to good use.
As we were saying goodbye to Grace, we reminded her that it wouldn’t be a long goodbye as we will be back working with her at the Fortalice offices next Thursday at their Christmas donation day.
Joanne Low, Senior Complex Billing Analyst – “It’s always great to get out there and support our chosen charities with their fundraising activities, however this one felt extra special given that we were representing a local charity at a local venue and recognised that many people that we encountered on the day would have received assistance from Fortalice. We raised quite a bit of money, and hope that they will be able to put it to good use”
Kirsty Treble, Head of the Complex Billing Team – “We really enjoyed getting out and being able to work within the community on behalf of Fortalice, it was surprising how many people approached us to tell us that either they or people they know have received help from them. It really does just go to show how many people are helped by the amazing work that they do, and we felt privileged to be able to represent them for the day”.
Benjamin – Pricing Analyst – “I really enjoyed the bag packing and raising money for a lovely charity and interacting with the public”
Claire Owen – Head of Risk and Client Retention – It was lovely to be able to represent Fortalice for the day, they really are amazing with the support that they offer and it was humbling to be part of this. I hope that we helped to make a little difference and raise awareness and a few donations!
