Our Chosen Charity
January 2011
A Very Important Partnership
Ros Simmons, CEO, Vie at Home, with a donation to the Clic Sargent Charity
Each day in the United Kingdom, 10 families are given the diagnosis that will change all their lives forever. Cancer can strike any one, at any time, and it is especially poignant when the sufferer is a child. Charities like CLIC Sargent, which works with children and their families, needs thousands of pounds to ensure it can continue to make a real difference. Partnerships with enterprises such as cosmetics company VIE at home are making that difference.
‘Our world has been turned upside down,’ writes one parent, sharing the horrific news that their daughter has cancer. Another on the message board, run by UK-based charity CLIC Sargent is from a 14-year-old. It reads: ‘Still convinced it was asthma, my GP referred me to an asthma consultant. He listened to my chest and straight away sent me for some x-rays, which revealed that I had a tumour the size of a rugby ball.’ Each message reinforces the personal tragedies and triumphs encountered by young people and their families on a daily basis.
CLIC Sargent, the UK’s leading children’s cancer charity, is there to offer advice and practical support every step of the way and, thanks to its extensive fundraising network, does make a real difference to so many young lives.
 Fundraising in Thailand. |
Whether it is providing support workers running advice phone lines or specialists and nurses working one-to-one with young patients and their families, the charity has created an effective operation that meets the diverse needs of people having to cope with a child who has cancer.
The charity relies on support from individuals and industry. Direct selling companies, like leading skincare and makeup company VIE at home, are one of the corporate partners who have made an ongoing commitment to support the charity’s work.
VIE at home has raised more than £400,000 for the charity and supported a wide range of fundraising initiatives to increase awareness of the work of CLIC Sargent.
VIE at home’s marketing director Yvonne Clay said the company, which has a network of more than 10,000 sales Consultants, values its relationship with the charity that has grown over more than a decade.“It is a real partnership and is an important part of our business, not just an after-thought,” said Yvonne.
“The majority of our Consultants are women – mums, grandmothers and sisters. We wanted a charity that we could really get behind and people could see how it could benefit their own lives. “It was important to work with a charity that worked across the United Kingdom, so Consultants could see for themselves what a difference it was making to lives in their own areas,” she said.
CLIC Sargent runs a series of initiatives throughout the year that give VIE at home and its Consultants an opportunity to raise funds, including a ‘Yummy Mummy’ celebration. One of the charity’s patrons, Gaby Roslin, a favourite television presenter in the United Kingdom, took part in a makeover DVD that VIE at home’s Consultants showed at their home parties.
Pink evenings, pamper days and makeover sessions all help boost funds, with some Consultants like Jean Sellers going one step further and organising a world-record-breaking makeover session. Jean and four other Consultants, based in North Wales, now not only hold the Guinness World Record for completing 118 cosmetic makeovers in one hour, but also helped boost the charity’s funds. Other teams of Consultants have trekked in Thailand and Cuba to raise money for the charity.
Yvonne said: “It really is fantastic what people want to do for CLIC Sargent. We have always felt it was important and much better to focus on one charity and really make a difference.”
While financial donations are important, the company also recognises the value of its employees making time to undertake practical work that will help the charity.
The IT and accounts team, based at the company’s head office in West Sussex, have undertaken out of hours projects, including the revamp of a garden at the CLIC Haven Centre in Southampton, Hampshire.
Yvonne said: “The centre is very much a home from home for families who have been affected by cancer and need support when their child has had to go into the hospital.
“It can be a very stressful time, and parents want to be with their children, but this can create financial pressures and mean people can even risk losing their job or their house. Understanding how the charity is giving support to these families really brings it home just what a difference we can make.”She added: “We are really positive about this work. This is a real partnership that not only helps a very worthwhile charity but also helps our business.”
The support of businesses like VIE at home is valued by the charity. Querida Williams, Head of Corporate Fundraising at CLIC Sargent, said: “We are currently working with two leading direct selling companies – VIE at home and PartyLite – and their support is vital in helping CLIC Sargent reduce the impact of childhood cancer.
“We find that direct selling Consultants are generally really enthusiastic and passionate people, who make great ambassadors for the charity. Our direct selling corporate partners have also come up with some really creative fundraising ideas and are often willing to go the extra mile to help children and young people with cancer, like trekking through Cuba and Thailand.
“It’s this commitment to the cause from staff and customers which makes these corporate partnerships so important to the charity,” concluded Querida.
