Make-a-Wish: News and events

Make-A-Wish and British Gas win charity award!

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Corporate partner British Gas shares win with us in Successful Fundraising Challenge category...

At last night’s Business Charity Awards, held at London’s Grosvenor Hotel, British Gas and Make-A-Wish took the award for the best business staff team which took part in a successful fundraising challenge benefiting a UK charity.

More than 400 employees of all ages and roles applied for the 34 places available on the fundraising challenge to conquer Mount Kilimanjaro and raise money for Make-A-Wish, including call centre workers, engineers – and Managing Director Phil Bentley.

Each climber was given six months to raise a minimum of £2,500, some staging their own innovative events such as cabaret nights and movie-themed dinner parties.

British Gas provided each climber with £400-worth of branded climbing kit and gave staff two days' paid leave to take part in the challenge, which was a success: 82 per cent of the British Gas team reached the summit, compared with an average success rate of 60 per cent.

Mr Bentley said: "It was an amazing display of teamwork, with people from all areas of business pulling together to ensure that we achieved. It was a great week, with a real display of team spirit and humour to keep us all going – both getting to the top and getting back down."

The trek proved a big fundraising success. The team smashed its fundraising target, raising £204,000 – far more than the anticipated £85,000. The money will now be used to grant more than 40 wishes to children and young people who are living with life-threatening conditions.

In total, British Gas raised £470,280 for Make-A-Wish last year, which made the company the largest contributor to the charity in 2011.

David McHattie, Head of Charities at Barclays Corporate and one of the category judges, said: "Working together, British Gas and Make-A-Wish Foundation UK managed to raise more than double the initial fundraising target."

Special Harvester Sundae set to grant wishes

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Longtime Make-A-Wish charity partner Harvester is launching a brand new ice cream sundae which will benefit Make-A-Wish.

The Chocolate Star Sundae is an irresistible blend of milk chocolate covered nougat pieces, with rich Devonshire toffee sauce and Belgium chocolate sauce, topped with milk chocolate stars and a crispy wafer.

The dessert will be available on the menu from May 16, with 25 pence from each sundae being donated to Make-A-Wish.

Harvester restaurants up and down the country have raised more than £200,000 for the charity, which is the organisation’s chosen charity, over the last five years.

Karen England, Make-A-Wish Director of Fundraising, said: “We’re thrilled that Harvester is continuing to support our charity by taking this innovative approach, which will help raise further awareness of the work we do and enable us to continue to transform the lives of special children.”

More information about Harvester can be found at www.harvester.co.uk.

Save money when you sign up for run challenges!

Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 +0100

GREAT NEWS! For a limited period only, from now until the end of May 2012, we're HALVING the deposit amount for signing up to run for us in the Great North Run and/or the Liverpool Marathon.

The Great North Run takes place on Sunday 16 September 2012, and is one of the world's most prestigious half-marathons. It's covered live on the BBC and last year more than 54,000 runners took part. We have just a few charity places left, and a deposit of just £25 (rather than the normal £50) will make one of them yours, if you sign up before the end of the month. Find out more...

Make-A-Wish UK is one of the official charities of the Liverpool Marathon, which takes place on Sunday 14 October 2012 and has been staged, off and on, since at least 1927. Again, we have just a few charity places left, and a deposit of just £25 (rather than the normal £50) will make one of them yours, if you sign up before the end of the month. Find out more...

Join our Run for Wishes team and help grant magical wishes!

See our latest newsletter, online

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Here's a direct link to our new newsletter, 'I Wish...'.

This is the latest issue, covering April – August 2012 - we publish three times a year, in April, August and December.

Please click here to enjoy our new issue...

You can:

FIND OUT why actor Warwick Davis is supporting our new Go Gold campaign
FOCUS IN on the great fundraising work and wishes that go on in Scotland and Northern Ireland (we have dedicated satellite offices in both Edinburgh and Belfast)
SEE for yourself how busy we are this year
DISCOVER how YOU can help us by taking on a challenge or making a regular gift!
PLUS five new wishes to read about!

Please click here to enjoy our new issue...

Don't forget, we also send out a monthly eshot - so, to make sure you're bang up-to-date with what's happening in the world of wishes, scroll down to the bottom right of our Home page and fill in your name and email address; we'll do the rest!

Thank you, London Marathon runners!

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0100

A big thank you from Make-A-Wish to all 82 runners who braved the London Marathon on Sunday in order to fundraise for us. As far as we can tell, everyone made it to the finish, so we’re thrilled about that!

It turned out to be a very special day for Sean, 25, from Arlesey, who PROPOSED to girlfriend Gemma, also 25! The proposal came after Jay Norton, star of BBC1 show The Voice, serenaded Gemma with one of his own songs, Forever.

Sean, who completed the 26.2 mile run in five hours and ten minutes, discovered Jay on YouTube before he hit television fame. After deciding to propose he asked Jay via Twitter to help make it extra-special. Jay, who gave an emotional performance, said: “I’m so happy to be involved, it’s just amazing!”

But the proposal was not the only thing on Sean’s mind. He was running with a photograph of his childhood best friend, Natalie Brooks, who was granted her wish in 2002.

Sean said: “Natalie returned to school the day after her London shopping trip wish and I remember how happy she was. It made me so grateful to Make-A-Wish that I have always wanted to repay them for what they did. Sadly, at the age of just 16, Natalie lost her battle with cancer and left us in October 2003. This is my way of saying thank you to Make-A-Wish.”

He went on to say: “I’m so happy about so many different things. This is the best day of my life.”

See Sean propose on video!

We haven’t room to tell you about all our runners’ fantastic stories and their special reasons for choosing Make-A-Wish, but here’s a small sample:

Alex, 30, a software developer from East Dulwich, had run a number of marathons before but this was his first London Marathon and first charity run. He chose to run for Make-A-Wish because he wanted to help those who may never have the opportunity to run a marathon: “I’m so glad to have been able to run this prestigious event and hope that running for Make-A-Wish will give those less fortunate the opportunity to realise one of their dreams.”

Mark, a 37 year old police officer from Moffat, completed the Marathon despite getting cramp at mile 23. He chose to run for Make-A-Wish because a friend’s little boy has a brain tumour. He said: “Considering what these children go through, the least I could do was push through some cramp – especially as it means bringing a bit of hope during a dreadful time.”

David from Chiswick, 53, completed the race despite a slipped disc: “A bit of bum pain for a few hours is worth giving a poorly child a smile. The work Make-A-Wish does is really important – to be able to make something so very special for these children is really touching.”

Rob, 26 and from Bournemouth, started running in January 2011 to get some exercise and lose a bit of weight and was hooked from day one. He decided he wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary for charity and came up with the idea of running 12 marathons in 2012 – the London Marathon was his fourth. He said: “I think that the work Make-A-Wish does is truly remarkable, and I’m glad that I have an opportunity to be a part of it. We all take so much for granted in everyday life which the children who Make-A-Wish support may unfortunately never have the chance to experience.”

John from Gainsborough (on the right of our picture) chose to run for Make-A-Wish because the company he works for, Smiffy’s, is one of our corporate supporters. John, who also ran the Great North Run last year for Make-A-Wish, suffered an injury just ten miles into the marathon but he pushed through to complete the race alongside his colleague Mark, who also ran for Make-A-Wish. John said: “The work Make-A-Wish does is brilliant. I have three children under eight and I can’t imagine how illness would tear them apart. I’m so grateful for their health and wanted to give back to other parents less fortunate.”

Karen England, Director of Fundraising at Make-A-Wish, says: “We are extremely grateful to all our runners for running the Virgin London Marathon on behalf of Make-A-Wish; we hope to grant 1,000 magical wishes this year and it’s fundraisers like these who really help us to reach this target. A wish is a lasting memory not just for the child or young person fighting a life-threatening illness, but for their parents and siblings too; it can provide some much needed respite or simply give them some precious time together as a family.”

Make-a-Wish: News and events

Make-A-Wish and British Gas win charity award!

Corporate partner British Gas shares win with us in Successful Fundraising Challenge category...

At last night’s Business Charity Awards, held at London’s Grosvenor Hotel, British Gas and Make-A-Wish took the award for the best business staff team which took part in a successful fundraising challenge benefiting a UK charity.

David McHattie, Head of Charities at Barclays Corporate and one of the category judges, said: "Working together, British Gas and Make-A-Wish Foundation UK managed to raise more than double the initial fundraising target."

Special Harvester Sundae set to grant wishes

Longtime Make-A-Wish charity partner Harvester is launching a brand new ice cream sundae which will benefit Make-A-Wish.

Karen England, Make-A-Wish Director of Fundraising, said: “We’re thrilled that Harvester is continuing to support our charity by taking this innovative approach, which will help raise further awareness of the work we do and enable us to continue to transform the lives of special children.”

Save money when you sign up for run challenges!

GREAT NEWS! For a limited period only, from now until the end of May 2012, we're HALVING the deposit amount for signing up to run for us in the Great North Run and/or the Liverpool Marathon.

Join our Run for Wishes team and help grant magical wishes!

See our latest newsletter, online

Here's a direct link to our new newsletter, 'I Wish...'.

This is the latest issue, covering April – August 2012 - we publish three times a year, in April, August and December.

Please click here to enjoy our new issue...

Please click here to enjoy our new issue...

Don't forget, we also send out a monthly eshot - so, to make sure you're bang up-to-date with what's happening in the world of wishes, scroll down to the bottom right of our Home page and fill in your name and email address; we'll do the rest!

Thank you, London Marathon runners!

A big thank you from Make-A-Wish to all 82 runners who braved the London Marathon on Sunday in order to fundraise for us. As far as we can tell, everyone made it to the finish, so we’re thrilled about that!

It turned out to be a very special day for Sean, 25, from Arlesey, who PROPOSED to girlfriend Gemma, also 25! The proposal came after Jay Norton, star of BBC1 show The Voice, serenaded Gemma with one of his own songs, Forever.

He went on to say: “I’m so happy about so many different things. This is the best day of my life.”

See Sean propose on video!

We haven’t room to tell you about all our runners’ fantastic stories and their special reasons for choosing Make-A-Wish, but here’s a small sample:

See all our fantastic Marathon pictures here!

Find out more about joining our team for the 2013 London Marathon...