Local businesses have been given £50 and three months to turn it into as much money as possible for East Suffolk based charity, St Elizabeth Hospice.
28 teams from companies across Suffolk have signed up for the Turners Hyundai Accumulator Challenge in aid of St Elizabeth Hospice and pledged to raise as much as they can for the local charity who provide care and support to more than 2,000 patients and their families every year.
On Friday (18 September), representatives from the teams taking on the challenge gathered at Turners Hyundai Ipswich to receive their £50 and to hear about how the money they will raise will help improve life for people living with a progressive illness in East Suffolk and Waveney.
Ipswich MP Ben Gummer and Ian Turner, MD of Turners Hyundai, who is also a trustee of St Elizabeth Hospice, handed out the £50 notes and encouraged the attendees to raise as much as they can for the hospice.
Mr Turner said: “The Accumulator Challenge is a great fundraising initiative for local businesses to get involved with. It offers great networking opportunities, provides positive PR, is a good chance to team build and is a fun and easy way of supporting a local charity at the heart of our community.
“St Elizabeth Hospice touches many people’s lives and I am proud to be a trustee of such a valued charity and delighted that Turners Hyundai could support them by sponsoring the Accumulator Challenge. All the money raised through the challenge will make a big difference to the lives of the patients, families and carers supported by the hospice.”
The teams can take the £50 and turn it into more charity cash in whatever way they want – as long as it is safe and legal. In the past there have been sleep-outs in car parks, men waxing legs, baths in beans, and the Great Suffolk Bake Off!
The winner of the Accumulator Challenge is the team who raises the most money and they will receive the top prize of a free page of publicity in the Archant publication Business East Monthly.
If your organisation wants to put in a team for the challenge, there is still time. Call 01473 723600 or email fundraising@stelizabethhospice.org.uk before the end of the month to enter your team. Find out more at www.stelizabethhospice.org.uk/accumulatorchallenge
Companies signed up include: Ansaback, Antistat; Asda (Stoke Park, Whitehouse and Stowmarket); Barclays Bank; BT TV (Adastral Park and London); Constable Country Medical Practice; Eastern and Otley College; Morrisons (Hadleigh); Networking for Good; Specsavers (Stowmarket); St Elizabeth Hospice; Suffolk Life; Tesco (Felixstowe); Tothill Services and Wood Ley Primary School, some of whom have entered multiple teams.