At our first meeting of the new year, we presented a cheque for a staggering £10,558 to Zarach! The culmination of two years’ fundraising, we were incredibly proud to raise such an amount, which is enough to provide 70 bed bundles, helping those children who receive them to get a good night’s sleep and all the benefits that provides. Our members worked hard to raise this fantastic total through our tea tent at Baildon Carnival, bake stalls at Baildon Farmers Market, our fabulous Boating Belles who came third at Bradford Dragon Boat festival, monthly raffles, and our first ever time hosting Baildon Scarecrow Festival!
Kathryn from Zarach came along to the meeting to give us a short talk with an update on the charity’s work, and showed us a sample bed bundle. Each child receives not only a brand new bed and mattress, but all new duvet, bedding, pyjamas, toiletries, Zed Ted book, and a hand knitted bear. Some of the children have never had new things before and are as excited about their new pyjamas as their bed! Their parents are often overcome by the kindness of all those involved in this amazing charity, and in fact it was the act of a parent ‘paying forward’ an act of kindness that was its very genesis.
Our Charity Officer Sally Illingworth told Kathryn: “We have really enjoyed raising money for Zarach and we wish you even more success with the charity and funding for the new hubs you are creating – it’s fabulous much needed work and we are very grateful for everything you and the team are doing to try to alleviate bed poverty.”
We’ll be choosing a new charity at our annual meeting in March, ready for our new membership year in April.