The HECK! team has taken its Community Fund on the road this summer, helping and supporting a number of local causes. Launched in April, the Fund is aimed at supporting and recognising individuals and smaller organisations making an impact on their communities.
Members of the team have been spending time at Herriot Hospice, helping shape the outside space of the former Lambert Memorial Hospital in Thirsk. The site is being converted into a new palliative care and bereavement support centre following a huge community fundraising effort. Ahead of the centre’s community open day on 15 September, a group of HECK! volunteers got their gardening gloves on, cutting hedges and lawns, putting up fencing, weeding and getting some of the ground ready for turfing. The gardens will be for patients and when families come to visit.
HECK! also sponsored Adam Alderson and his friend Jamie Wilman on their Princess Bike Challenge to raise money for Cancer Research UK, donating the pair’s initial fundraising target of £2,000. Cancer survivor Adam and Jamie who also suffers from a chronic bowel condition, jumped on the toddler bikes to ride the 27 miles from Leyburn to Northallerton on 27 July. The challenge took them nearly three hours to complete and to date they’ve raised almost £4,000 for the charity.
Other activities have included another Saltburn beach clean in June, which saw local people come together to take part and where everyone was rewarded with sausage and chips after all their hard work. In a drive to keep local beauty spots litter-free, HECK! has been organising litter pics around its Yorkshire Dales-based HQ for some time and last year this was extended to the seaside. With their fourth beach clean now complete, volunteers have collected over 150 bags of rubbish so far, with another event planned for later this month.
“We’ve been blown away by the incredible stories we’ve heard since our community fund launched and it’s great that our team has got out and about to support projects themselves too.” says HECK’s Jamie Keeble.
“Since we started out 11 years ago, our community has been a fantastic support to us, so it’s great to give back. With Adam also coming from Yorkshire, we were really happy to support his amazing work. After his incredible personal journey, Adam has helped so many others who are battling cancer, by spreading awareness and raising funds to help save lives.”
Michael White, Partnerships Manager at Herriot Hospice Homecare, said: “It was fantastic to have the HECK! team come along to help us with the garden transformation. Three quarters of our work is funded by the generosity of our community and to have the team’s support in getting Herriot Hospice@The Lambert’s garden spaces ready for our patients and families, as we put the finishing touches to the facility, was a real boost. Thank you to everyone involved.”
Individuals and organisations interested in applying for HECK! Community Funding can get in touch here www.heckfood.co.uk/pages/community.
