One hundred volunteers from the It’s a Wrap fundraising group worked tirelessly in the run-up to Christmas to raise money for The Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign’s ‘our plan’ appeal. The appeal has a target of £15 million to build Europe’s leading cancer centre for children and young people and is due to open in 2011.
This was the fundraisers 15th year of operating a gift wrapping service in shopping centres and they raised an enormous £29,551 for The Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign. The wrap, where presents bought by the public are wrapped in exchange for a donation to the cause, has been in operation for 15 years and has raised over £550,000.
It started in Croydon with just a few volunteers and has now expanded to Crawley and Epsom shopping centres. Denise Clarke, a trustee of the group said: "We have been very blessed with the total support of each shopping mall who give us generous sponsorship of space, time, stands and publicity as well as encouraging words and enthusiasm.”
The group now has over 100 volunteers who between them worked for over 5,000 hours during the Wrap period. This included wrapping an estimated 11,500 gifts in approximately 12 miles of paper and 17 miles of ribbon. Denise said the group “never ceases to be amazed by the public’s support and patience in the busiest wrapping times."
She added: “We are proud of what we have achieved so far, for a charity that we are passionate about. We aim to continue helping children with cancer for many years to come and are always willing to talk to anyone who may consider joining our keen and loyal team of volunteers.”
Find out more
If you would like some more information on the It’s a Wrap fundraising group or would like to attend their upcoming annual quiz in March, for The Royal Marsden Children’s and Young Person’s Centre, please contact Denise Clarke at
deniseclarke@hotmail.com or on 01883 342 920.