Every year Filtermist supports its employees who are fundraising for charity, as well as local clubs and organisations, with a special budget set aside to support our team. In the past this has been anything from funding sports kits for a local youth team, sponsorship for running a race or even a sponsored beard shave!
2020 brought many challenges to anyone trying to fundraise and our own SMT who were planning on tackling the Three Peaks Challenge have had to put their plans back to this year. As previously reported, the team will be heading for the summit of Ben Nevis in Scotland, followed by Scafell Pike in Yorkshire and then Snowdon in North Wales this May, with the aim of scaling all three mountains in under 24 hours. They’re fundraising for the British Lung Foundation and their Just Giving Page can be found here
Just last week we also featured a story about our Director of Shared Services, Jo Morris, who as well as being part of the Three Peaks team, is planning to conquer the ‘Race to The Castle’ Ultra Marathon event in June with teammates from her local gym to raise £5000 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. You can donate by clicking here.
This week we wanted to give a shout out to two more colleagues taking on their own charity challenges in 2021 as well as introducing you to a local team we'll be supporting this year.
Peter Ellis
Divisional Sales & Installation Team Leader Pete Ellis is raising money for Pancreatic Cancer UK and Prostate Cancer UK after losing his mum last year to Pancreatic Cancer and then finding out shortly after that his dad had been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.
In July he will be undertaking a 49km trail - The Ultra Challenge SW Coast to Coast - a scenic adventure from Tiverton in mid-Devon, down the Exe Valley to Exeter and onto the seaside town of Dawlish.
As if that wasn’t enough, Pete will then be taking part in the Shrewsbury Quadrathlon in September, consisting of a 500m River Swim, 4k Kayak, 23k Cycle and finishing with a 5k run!
Pete will be joining his brothers in their fundraising efforts to try and raise £1000 for their chosen charities and had this to say:
"Up until this time we had little awareness of Pancreatic or Prostate Cancer and the devastating effects they can have. Having experienced the impact of these diseases first-hand we have jointly decided to try and raise as much money as we can for both charities to help in some small way the wonderful and dedicated people fighting these monstrous illnesses."
You can show your support by donating on the Just Giving page here.
Clair Banks
Service Team Coordinator Clair Banks will be running the London Marathon on 3rd October this year.
She was lucky enough to secure her place and will be running to raise money for 'Whizz-Kids', a charity which supplies children and young adults with wheelchairs that are tailored to them and their lifestyle.
“The wheelchair is just the start, they also run social events, youth centres, breaks away and help young adults get into education and jobs,” said Clair.
"Fundraising in lock-down is a challenge; not being in the office to rattle a tin or do the odd bake sale. However outside of work I have plenty of ideas to make a fool of myself in aid of a good cause!" She added.
Clair is hoping to raise £2,000 and you can sponsor on her Virgin Money Giving page here.
Sponsorship of Telford based Motocross team - SIX10 Motor Sports
SIX10 Motor Sports team is a Telford based Motocross team with members already competing at a national level. The team was started over twenty years ago by Ian Jesson who is the brother of Filtermist Customer Care Advisor Sarah Jesson; Sarah approached Filtermist about sponsorship to help the club move to being a fully sponsored team competing at the National and British Championships this year.
“When I look back over the years it has been an amazing journey and made me very proud as Team Manager watching the team progress from grass roots racing to where we are today competing with the top teams in the country,” said Ian.
We are happy to be supporting this local team and wish them the best of luck in all their competitions this year!
Find out more about SIX10 Motor Sports on its Facebook page - click here.