Only a couple of years ago, local charity STING – Staffordshire Therapeutic Independent Neurological Group – was in danger of disappearing as it didn’t have enough funds to carry on providing its vital services in the area.
MS-UK, the national charity that had been overseeing the local group under the previous name of MS-UK Staffordshire Centre, decided to withdraw all its support.
This left the volunteers, who worked hard to help many neurological patients in Staffordshire, without the necessary funds to continue the work that was needed.
However, the group just managed to carry on through the increased commitment from the members (many of whom are limited through an illness themselves) and with local council grants, fundraising and assistance from the landlords of their premises on Whitebridge Estate in Stone.
Unfortunately, this was not sufficient for STING to operate fully as the community needed it to until, out of the blue, a local Stafford employer arrived with fairy godmother-like generosity to provide the lifeline that was required.
Early in 2015, Wincanton’s Screwfix Distribution Centre in Stafford voted to support STING as its Charity of the Year through its fundraising activities. These have been carried out either on site or around the area by dedicated and enthusiastic team members there, and have covered an amazing variety of events.
During the charity year these events have included the site Charity Week, a coast-to- coast cycling event through Wales, supermarket bag-packing collection, car boot sale, Family Fun Day, Quiz Night, teams in the Birmingham Colour Run and Great Birmingham Half Marathon, and other miscellaneous events, all very well supported by Wincanton’s team – and they have raised a great deal of money for STING!
At a recent Fundraising Group Meeting at the Screwfix Distribution Centre, members of STING were presented with a cheque for £29,516 – representing the total raised for the group from the first year’s fundraising activities at the site. Events put on so far this year have already generated in excess of £10,000.
[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” ]STING Chairman, Mike Clayton, is delighted that the future of STING now seems secure. “We have been through some very tough times over the last few years. However, with the fantastic support from our friends at Screwfix, we are far more positive now. We have progressed tremendously recently, both with our new website and with what we can now offer in the community. This is testament to the hard work of the team at STING as well as the amazing support from so many at Screwfix.”[/box]
[box type=”info” ]For more details on STING, contact them on 07847-872635, on their Facebook page, or through their website www.sting-staffordshire.org.uk [/box]
