At its “Pride of Bewley” Awards Gala evening, held in November, Bewley Homes took the opportunity to raise much-needed funds for one of its chosen charities – Sebastian’s Action Trust.
Guests raised £1,380 for the charity in just 10 minutes with a lively game of ‘Heads and Tails’. This has, subsequently, been doubled, through The Big Give, and is now worth £2,760 for the Trust.
The organisation, located near to the housebuilder’s head office in Hampshire, provides emotional, social, and practical support for children, and their families, with life-threatening or life limiting illnesses – assisting from diagnosis, through treatment and beyond.
This is the second donation from Bewley Homes, this year, to the charity which also received over £30,000 raised from the company’s annual golf day held earlier in the summer.
When presenting the cheque, Bewley’s Sales and Marketing Director, Elaine Stratford, and colleague, Olivia Goodenough, were delighted to also take along some Bewley teddy bears to be distributed, as a small gift, to some of the children receiving support this week.
Elaine commented: “We take immense pleasure in being able to support such a worthy and important charity as the Sebastian’s Action Trust. Raising funds where the contributors also have fun in doing so is always the best way to ensure that both parties fully benefit and means that the fund raising will continue into future years. This charity is close to all our hearts at Bewley, and especially to our Managing Director, Andrew Brooks, who has ensured that we have been supporters since the Trust was founded.”
This week was especially poignant with it being National Grief Awareness Week. During Bewley’s visit the team, at Sebastian’s Action Trust, spoke of their work supporting grieving parents and siblings of children who had sadly passed away.
Elaine added: “The importance of parents and their families being able to speak openly about their loss is crucial to their well-being, and for day to day healing. We all know that there is no time limit on the impact of grief and knowing the Trust continues to support families in this way is fantastic and will spur us on to raise more funds in 2023.”
Nicola Lawrence, Corporate Fundraiser, at Sebastian’s Action Trust added: “It was a pleasure to meet Elaine and Olivia and our thanks to everyone at Bewley, its suppliers and friends for raising this vital amount of money to enable us to continue to support families in need.”
Pic caption:
Laura Weaving, House Manager at The Bluebells, Nicola Lawrence, Corporate Fundraiser with Elaine Stratford and Olivia Goodenough from Bewley Homes