Undeterred by the cold, wet and windy weather, some 70 hardy souls took part in Wimborne Rotary’s fifth Great Santa Fun Run at Badbury Rings on 15 December. Two of the participants, Michael Tomlinson, Prospective MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, and Adam Hinks (both pictured with Neil Bichard before the start of the race) raised £155 for R2R. Michael presented us with the cheque and later dropped in at one of our Afternoon Drop-Ins to learn more about the work we do.
Michael comments: “In November our youth group at St Dunstans Church, Upton, was challenged to sleep out overnight in order to raise awareness about homelessness. Whilst discussing homelessness with the teenagers, our youth leader told us about Routes to Roots and the work it was doing locally. For the past few years I have done the Great Santa Fun Run, and I raise money for two or three local charities. This year Routes to Roots seemed the natural choice (the other being Purbeck CAB).
“I was really pleased to be able to drop in this week with R2R Chair Pat for an afternoon session. It was good to meet some of the guys and hear more about R2R, the support network, and projects such as Holton Lee. My one disappointment was not to get to play table-tennis. It will have to wait for another time!”
Many thanks to all who participated in the Rucksack Project in Poole and surrounding area for the incredible number donated to us in December.
The Rucksack Project is not a charitable organisation, but a worldwide movement born out of a simple idea to help those sleeping rough on the streets during the freezing winter months.
Anyone can help because the project is not about one person trying to do a lot, but about many each just doing a little to make a big difference in the world. The idea is an incredibly simple one: Go to charity shops, get a rucksack, sleeping bag, flask (fill with hot soup), spoon, gloves, hat, fleece, undies, socks and extra food, take it out and give it to a homeless person – or organisation helping the homeless. http://rucksackproject.org/
In March 2014 the pupils of St Mary’s Primary School Swanage were inspired by the Rucksack Project to deliver a pile of donations for our clients.
The R2R carol singers raised their voices and £104.74 at Sainsburys on 14 December.
Thomas, aged 8, sent us a card with £10. He wrote: “Dear Routes to Roots, I have given some money to my mum. To help homeless people. I am Thomas 8 years old. Love Thomas”.
Many thanks to our new supporter, Durable UK, who have given £500 to help our work. One of the leading office product manufacturers in Europe, Durable has a large portfolio of products including name badges, files & folders, desk accessories, computer cleaning products, signage, presentation systems, self adhesives, waste management and office furniture.
They have also generously given us information display stands, such as the one shown here at R2R’s carol singing morning at Sainsburys in December, and a mass of office items, including soft plastic file folders, name badges, envelopes, cleaning materials.
Grateful thanks to the following for their donations:
Amphibious Chapter 9050 – £145
Asda – £50 from December token campaign
Ashley Masonic Lodge – £746 from sponsored walk and collections
Broadstone Methodists – £200
Broadstone URC – £228.05
Buckland Road Baptist Church – £250
Children, Young People & Learning (Borough of Poole) staff – £41 raised instead of sending Christmas cards
Church of the Holy Angels, Lilliput – £50
Church of the Transfiguration, Canford Cliffs & Sandbanks – £250
Dorset Guitars – £150
Durable – £500
Greendale Construction – £1258.52
Halifax, Poole – £363.70
Lantern Chuch, Canford Magna – £955
Little Red Roaster – £788
Nationwide in Bournemouth – £350
Nationwide in Poole – £350 for the Winter Big Breakfast appeal
Parkstone Baptist Church – £160
Olives et Al restaurant in Dorchester – £108
Poole Contact Centre – £60
Poole Printmakers – £36
Poole Scouts Group Active Support Unit – £60
Rotary Club of Poole Bay – £1100
Sally Hogsflesh’s Yoga Workshops in Studland – £270
Saturday Night Soup Run Team – £25
St Georges Church, Oakdale – £200
St Mary’s Longfleet – £1457.74
St Peter’s, Parkstone – £200
The School of Health & Social Care, Bournemouth – £115 from a festive coffee morning and bake sale in December
Waitrose Poole Community Matters Token Collection – £266
…and from many private individuals – £2015
Donations in kind
Asda Poole – all the food for Christmas day lunch
Barclays Community Group – tinned food collection
Christ Church Creekmoor – Christmas stockings
Greggs in Poole – cakes for Christmas Day
Liverpool & Victoria – clothes and food
Poole Sea Cadets – sleeping bags
Skinner Street URC – Christmas gifts for the guys
St Edward’s School, Poole – boxes of chocolates
Grants
The MacDougall Trust has given us a grant for £200. The Trust makes small one-off grants to people of all ages, who are ‘In Need’, and live in Dorset.
Plus
£666.75 given through MyDonate in December
£124.42 raised through Easyfundraising
The Poole branch of Halifax and Chartered building company Greendale Construction have chosen R2R as one of their nominated charities. Greendale presented R2R with a cheque for £1258.50 in January 2014 from money raised at their Christmas party, auction and raffle. In return R2R presented Greendale with our first ‘Star Fundraiser’ framed certificate.
Asda in Poole chose R2R as one of three charities to be supported in its 2013 Christmas token appeal in December and presented us with £50. Waitrose in Ashley Road Poole chose R2R as one of its Community Matters charities to be supported throughout December and presented R2R with £256 from its appeal.
The Borough of Poole has awarded R2R £1655 from its Adult Social Care fund as a contribution to the maintenance of the current Afternoon Project that enables service users to meet professionals and partake in activities such as art therapy, drama, cookery, food hygiene and photography.
ESG Robinson Charitable Trust has awarded a grant of £1,000 to support R2R Drop-Ins.
Helen, a Routes to Roots member, recently told us how a dinner guest spotted and read through the Autumn R2R newsletter featuring the Big Breakfast appeal. At close of dinner he asked firstly for everyone’s attention and secondly for £3.50 each as tribute for their hostess’ lovely food – to buy a hot breakfast for a rough sleeper. As a result Helen handed over £21 for six breakfasts. What a great idea!
In October 2013 Routes to Roots added a large quantity of suitable clothing to our supplies by collecting tops and trousers discarded by runners at the start of the Bournemouth Marathon.
GSI Events, organisers of the Bournemouth Marathon Festival, invited R2R to collect clothing left at the start pens by some 6,000 runners in the half-marathon and full marathon. This involved a pre-dawn start for the volunteer collectors, wearing hi-viz vests, who picked up and then sorted numerous bags of clothing. In addition £37.50 was added to our funds from selling unwanted items to Cash for Clothes – this was immediately used to buy storage equipment for the space kindly donated us by our supporter Big Yellow. Many thanks to our R2R volunteers, staff and family members, students from Bournemouth University.
Pirates flocked to Poole in October when staff at Halifax Bank, Falkland Square held a charity auction at the branch to raise money for Routes to Roots.Among the reprobates at the pirate-themed fun day were Gabi (below) and Liz from R2R.
Among the prizes on offer were two tickets to a home AFC Bournemouth match, a family boat trip around Brownsea Island and meals out at top local restaurants. Money-raising activities also included a cake stand, face painting, tombola and second hand bookstall.
Halifax staff have chosen R2R as their charity for the year. They donated £363.70 in February 2014.
Undeterred by the cold, wet and windy weather, some 70 hardy souls took part in Wimborne Rotary’s fifth Great Santa Fun Run at Badbury Rings on 15 December. Two of the participants, Michael Tomlinson, Prospective MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, and Adam Hinks (both pictured with Neil Bichard before the start of the race) raised £155 for R2R. Michael presented us with the cheque and later dropped in at one of our Afternoon Drop-Ins to learn more about the work we do.
