We are really pleased to tell everyone that Sainsbury’s Bangor have chosen The Christopher McCollum Fund to be their Charity Partner for the next 12 months to June 2014. This is tremendous recognition for our charity. We sincerely thank the staff for choosing us and we look forward to working with Sainsbury’s Bangor. John Lockhart, Bangor Sainsbury’s Store Manager said:
"We’ve had a great response from our customers and we’re delighted to have chosen a charity which many of our customers and colleagues can associate with. We will now be working closely with Gerry & Geraldine McCollum to ensure that The Christopher McCollum Fund really benefits from the Local Charity partnership".
Elaine Gantley, Maureen Kenny, Cathryn Gibson (Muscular Dystrophy), Geraldine, Gerry, Richard Heaton
We were in Sainsbury’s Bangor on the 14th February for another in-store table collection but MORE SO we were also presented with a wonderful cheque for £2,067.33. This is part of our charity year June 2013 -14 and it was a great surprise to receive this. Sainsbury’s donate 1p from the 5p carrier bag charge to charity and this is why we were receiving this now. This means a total of £10,817.45 has now been raised from our Charity Partner year. Really tremendous. As we donated 25% from the Charity Year to the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign Duchenne Research Breakthrough Fund we are now pleased to donate a further £500 to Duchenne Research with the balance to Equipment for young disabled people. Our sincere thanks again to Elaine, Richard and everyone at Sainsbury’s for this further support.
A fantastic £8,750.12 was raised
Our great year as Sainsbury’s Charity Partner finished on the 28th June 2014. We are so pleased to say £8,750.12 was raised over the year from donations at our Saturday in-store table, bag pack, till collections and support from Sainsbury’s staff. This is a fantastic sum and we wish to thank Sainsbury’s, their staff and all their wonderful customers for this great support. As their Charity Partner we were able to achieve our three main aims. First £6,641 will go towards equipment for young people. We have also just agreed three new items in July, including a new customised wheelchair for a five year old Bangor boy, a special electric tilting chair for a 12 year old girl in Belfast and part funded a new sports wheelchair for a 16 year old boy in Carrowdore. Knowing we had Sainsbury’s support enabled us to be able to do this.
It was also good of Sainsbury’s to allow us to raise funds for Duchenne Research and £2,109 will be sent to the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign Duchenne Research Breakthrough Fund. This is so vital as just this week the first ever drug to be used as a treatment for 10 – 15 percent of boys with Duchenne who can still walk has been approved by the European Commission to be used in all EU countries. It was also great for us to be able to raise awareness with Sainsbury’s customers about the problems faced by young people with disabilities and their families and indeed also to hear so many of their stories as well.
This was a great 12 months for the charity both in terms of funds raised and raising our charity profile. We are grateful to everyone who nominated us, Sainsbury’s staff and their wonderful customers. We will miss our regular Saturdays in store but hope we will still be able to return on occasions.
Jenny McQuitty, Maureen Kenny, Lady Hermon and Geraldine
We had our last day in Sainsbury’s on Saturday, 28th June. It was another great day and once again we met some wonderful customers and families, some who shared their own concerns on care and support for young people with disabilities. The highlight though was a visit to our in-store table by Lady Sylvia Hermon, MP. Lady Hermon attended the launch day in June 2013 and it was great to see her again on our last day in June 2014. Lady Hermon’s enthusiasm for the charity is a great support and encouragement to us. Thank you Lady Hermon. We do not have a total figure for the collection that day as being the last week the amount was added in with other collection buckets at the tills. We do know that in the last week or so £500 was added to the overall total. We hope to receive the final figure shortly and will then pay tribute to Sainsbury’s and their customers.
Jamie Rogan relaxing...
We had a great Bag Pack at Sainsbury’s on the 10th May and raised a fantastic £685. This also included donations at our table. This was our first ever bag pack – they are hard work – and we would like to thank all our supporters who gave up their time to support us. It was also special as we had some ‘young’ supporters helping as well. Hannah and Gillian at the Bag Pack with Olivia handing out stickers at the table and Jamie with a collection box. It was great to have Jamie there and he collected £22 in 35 minutes!! Well done Jamie.
Once again we thank Sainsbury’s and their customers for their great support.
It was great to collect a further £289 in Sainsbury’s on Saturday, 5th April. This will be used for equipment. One highlight about being in Sainsbury’s has been the people we have met. In October 1989 Elaine Hicks, a Consultant in the RVH, told us Christopher had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. It was amazing then when Elaine walked over to our table that Saturday to say hello and make a donation. We talked a lot about that day. We would meet Elaine regularly at Muscle Clinics but had not seen her since the late 90’s. Once again we thank Sainsbury’s and their customers for their time and generosity and for giving us the opportunity to make contact with old friends.
We had another successful day at Sainsbury’s on the 1st March. A total of £335.55 was collected both from the customers at our table and some till boxes. It was also great to see a joint support that week with the Newsletter paper who will donate an amount from the sale of each newspaper to our charity. Thanks again to Sainsbury’s, their customers and also the Belfast Newsletter.
We were back in Sainsbury’s Bangor on Saturday, 25th January 2014. It was a really awful day weather wise but we were really pleased to raise £230 towards equipment. We also met some wonderful people who stopped to talk and especially on seeing the framed photo of Emily, Marc and Jessica. It was also wonderful to meet a community nurse who had attended Christopher back in 1999/2000. Our thanks again to the customers of Sainsbury’s and Sainsbury’s for giving us the opportunity to also promote the charity as well as raise funds.
We held a Collection Day on Saturday, 14 December 2013 in Sainsbury’s Bangor. Thanks again to the generosity of the customers a tremendous £293.51 was collected. The funds raised were for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign Duchenne Research Breakthrough Fund set up in October 2012 to raise £1.6 million to accelerate finding a treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. We are pleased to say that since June 2013 Sainsbury’s Bangor has helped raise £1,109.51 which has bought 32 hours of vital research. Our thanks to Sainsbury’s and their customers.
Recently 17 staff of Sainsbury’s Bangor shaved their heads to support a colleague about to go through chemotherapy with the proceeds raised going to The Christopher McCollum Fund. To see the staff support a colleague this way is a really wonderful gesture. While we are Sainsbury’s charity partner to hear that the staff member himself asked for any monies raised to go to our charity, makes this a very special event for us to benefit from. A total of £1,400 was raised and we thank those who sponsored each person as well as the customers of Sainsbury’s on that day. We would like to send our very best wishes to the staff member for his treatment and the future. A big thanks of course to everyone who took part.
We received a letter from Gary Kernahan, Head of Fundraising, Muscular Dystrophy Campaign to thank, not only our volunteers, but also Michaela Hollywood and the customers of Sainsbury’s Bangor for raising £401 on the 3rd August 2013 towards the Duchenne Research Breakthrough Fund. This will help provide a further 11 hours of vital research to find a treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Our thanks again to Michaela for her support and the customers of Sainsbury’s Bangor for their generosity.
Michaela with her Olympic Torch
On Saturday 3rd August we held our second "In Store" Collection in Sainsbury’s Bangor. We again decided to donate the funds to the Duchenne Research Breakthrough Fund. Our great friend Michaela Hollywood, who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, came to support us bringing her Olympic Torch which she carried through Dromore last year. It was great for us to have Michaela there and also for Sainsbury’s staff, customers and our volunteers to meet Michaela who is a wonderful person and a tremendous ambassador for everyone with disabilities. It was great to see so many people have their photo taken with the torch and support the charity. Thanks again to Sainsbury’s Bangor we raised £401 on the day.
Michaela Event Poster
Michaela, Gerry & Geraldine
Michaela and Sainsbury’s staff
We received a letter from Gary Kernahan, Head of Fundraising, Muscular Dystrophy Campaign to thank us, our supporters and especially the customers of Sainsbury’s Bangor for helping to raise £415.00 towards the Duchenne Research Breakthrough Fund. The £415.00 has bought 12 hours of vital research.
Sainsbury’s staff, Gerry, Geraldine and Lady Sylvia Hermon MP
The Partnership with Sainsbury’s Bangor was launched on Saturday, 22nd June 2013. We thank our MP Lady Sylvia Hermon for attending and adding her support. We raised funds for the Duchenne Research Breakthrough Fund and a tremendous £415.00 was raised at our table and also at the checkout tills. The Breakthrough Fund was launched last year by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign to raise £1.6m to help accelerate finding a treatment. The £415.00 will buy 12 hours of vital research. We thank Sainsbury’s Bangor and their customers for their support.
Gerry, Elaine Gantley (Sainsbury’s), Geraldine and Lady Hermon
Harris and Helen Thompson, and Geraldine
Harris is our youngest supporter and you may see him around Bangor regularly wearing his "CHRIS" cap.
Co Down Spectator 11 July 2013