Birmingham Business Community Signs Up for Starlight Stroll
May 17, 2010
Birmingham’s business elite have come out in support of a major hospice fundraising event this summer, with some of the City’s best-known firms signing up to take part.
Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice is staging its flagship fundraising event, Starlight Stroll, on July 3. The ladies-only 10-mile sponsored night-time walk has attracted the participation of leading companies including Mills & Reeve, Equiniti and KPMG.
This year the Hospice is aiming to recruit 800 women walkers - with an ambitious fundraising target of £80,000 - for the event which kicks off at the University of Birmingham in Edgbaston at 10pm.
Birmingham St Mary’s Head of Fundraising Caroline Taylor said businesses of the City were making a major contribution to this year’s Starlight Stroll.
She said: “Not only is this event already attracting strong public support, but we’re also getting fantastic backing from Birmingham’s business community.
“This shows that even when times are hard, with many people struggling over the past couple of years, we still live in a big-hearted city that is prepared to stick by good causes.
“At Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice we’re really grateful for that support, and I look forward to strolling with the great and the good on July 3.”
Starlight Stroll is receiving a broad range of support from the Birmingham business world, with involvement of both charity-of-the-year companies and occasional corporate donators.
One of those taking part in Starlight Stroll is Helen Sutton, who works at Birmingham business advisory firm KPMG.
Helen, who has put together a team of 10 walkers from the firm’s city centre office, said: “We’re really keen to support Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice as it’s a wonderful organisation providing vital care to local people.
“We’ve had a fantastic response from our staff to Starlight Stroll: a 10-strong team of KPMG ladies will be hitting the streets on July 3 for a great night out in aid of a top local cause.”
Meanwhile Mills & Reeve’s Partner Dawn Brathwaite said the company’s city centre office was looking forward to strutting for Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice - the law firm’s local charity of the year.
“As Birmingham St Mary’s is the Birmingham office’s charity of the year in 2010 we will be making a big effort to raise as much sponsorship money as possible throughout the year. It’s going to be a fantastic way to spend a summer Saturday night and the Mills & Reeve ladies are looking forward to taking part,” Dawn said.
Starlight Stroll 2010 is being spearheaded by BBC presenter Suzanne Virdee. The Midlands Today host is helping to promote the event through a special ad campaign appearing on the back and inside 20 Birmingham National Express buses.
In the advert, designed by CBS Outdoor, Suzanne’s picture appears alongside the strap line: “Girls, stroll with me on July 3 in aid of Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice.”
A keen walker, Suzanne said she too was looking forward to taking part in the celestial spectacular which takes in Harborne, Moseley, Kings Heath and Selly Park.
“Having seen what the Hospice does for patients and their relatives going through the most difficult of times, I would like to urge as many ladies as possible to sign up for this year’s Starlight Stroll.
“I’m really looking forward to taking part in what is set to be a night out to remember in aid of a brilliant local cause. We’re really lucky to have a facility like Birmingham St Mary’s but it only exists because of the goodwill of local people. So come along and support us on July 3.”
Since its launch in 1979, Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice has cared for tens of thousands of people with life-limiting illnesses.
And with more than 50 percent of the Hospice’s budget reliant on public goodwill, community fundraising is crucial to ensuring its highly specialised services can continue to be offered to the people of Birmingham and Sandwell.
In addition to a 25-bed Inpatient unit, Birmingham St Mary’s boasts a 20-place Day Hospice and provides community care to people who wish to stay in their own homes.
The Hospice, whose running costs stand at £6.3 million a year, also supports relatives with bereavement preparation, physiotherapy tuition and counselling in addition to many other services.
Its nurses, often referred to by patients and relatives as ‘angels’, are renowned for going that extra mile to ensure people with terminal illnesses enjoy the best possible quality of life.
An appeal has also been launched for male volunteers to act as marshals during the Starlight Stroll.
Entry forms and information about volunteering as a marshal can be obtained from: Charlotte Sudbury, Community Fundraiser, Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice, 176 Raddlebarn Road, Selly Park, Birmingham B29 7DA, or alternatively telephone: 0121 4721191.
Further details about Starlight Stroll can also be found on Birmingham St Mary’s Facebook page: http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Birmingham-St-Marys-Hospice/117822558818
Picture caption: (from left) Maria Mora, Rebecca Makaruk, Margarita Larraga, Nuala McLoughlin, Heather Worthington, Maxcine (CORRECT) Reely, Danielle Powell, Fiona Macklin, Carole Young, Claire Myers and Helen Sutton.
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