[F]our cyclists from homewares retailer Dunelm visited the Carlisle store on 8th October as part of an 800-mile charity bike ride to raise funds for family support charity Home-Start.
Dunelm’s Head of Central Operations, Adrian Bibb, Director of Customer Experience, Tim Slade, Head of Service, Carl Harris and Reward Manager, Ben Waterfield were greeted by colleagues at the Carlisle store on day 2 of their journey that take them to 14 sites across 6 days.
The bike ride is part of a week-long charity event Dunelm has launched to raise funds for Home-Start.
Colleagues from around the business have been tasked with contributing to a total of 20,000 miles through a range of activities including hiking, running and cycling from 8th to 14th October. Events including static bikes and bake sales in stores, hiking up Mount Snowdon and a Bed-push at the company’s Leicestershire Store Support Centre have been organised.
Dunelm Head of Central Operations and cyclist Adrian Bibb said: “Home-Start do incredible work supporting vulnerable families around the country and we’re really proud be fundraising for such an important cause. The 800-mile route visiting 12 sites has been tough so far, but we’ve received fantastic support from Home-Start representatives and all our colleagues. We’re looking forward to a well-earned rest at the end of the week!”
Anita Frith, Head of Corporate & Fundraising Development at Home-Start UK said of the fundraising activities: “We’re thrilled to support Adrian, Carl and Ben as they take on this mammoth bike ride! It’s great to see so many people getting involved and the money raised will really help us support more families. Over 100 children are referred to Home-Start every day and the need for our work is acute and growing.”
The 20,000 miles for Home-Start fundraising week follows last month’s announcement that Dunelm has raised over £280,000 in the first year of their charity partnership with Home-Start. Dunelm announced their two-year fundraising partnership to support the charity’s life-changing work with vulnerable families in November 2016.
The first year of the charity partnership has seen Home-Start merchandise and special cupcakes being sold in Dunelm’s 160+ stores, as well as colleagues from around the business take part in fundraising activities including the London Marathon, abseiling and hiking the Three Peaks.
Home-Start is a charity dedicated to helping families struggling with challenges including post-natal depression, isolation, physical health problems, bereavement, domestic abuse. Over 260 local Home-Starts provide 16,000 trained volunteers to give one-to-one support for 30,000 families across the UK.
Visit www.home-start.org.uk/fundraisers/20000-miles-for-homestart to show your support.
