Nifty Fifty fundraisers turn a small amount into thousands

A 50-day, £50 challenge has raised thousands of pounds for Weston Hospicecare.

“Nifty Fifty” challenged teams from local organisations and businesses to turn £50 (kindly donated by Weston College) into as much money as possible in 50 days.

At an awards ceremony last week it was revealed that the challengers had turned their cash into an impressive total of £4,334, which will all go to support the local hospice. A team from Sainsbury’s Worle generated the most funds, raising just over £1,000. They received the Nifty Fifty winner’s award, presented by Dr Paul Phillips OBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College.

Dr Phillips said: “Weston College was delighted to support the Nifty Fifty campaign, and I am very impressed by the imaginative way in which the fund-raising teams reinvested the £50 they were given for the benefit of this very worthy cause.”

Sainsbury’s Worle manager Simon Luffman explained how they raised so much money:

“We took the £50 and made up two ‘Taste The Difference’ hampers, worth £25 each, which we then raffled.

“This raffle raised £450, which we then used to make some bigger hampers, which we raffled to raise even more money.”

John Bailey, Director of Patient Services for Weston Hospicecare, said he was delighted with the amount of money raised by the campaign.

He said: “The support and care that people receive at Weston Hospicecare is amazing.

“This is not the wealthiest community, and for an area like this to keep a service like Weston Hospicecare going – because 70% of our funding comes from donations – is amazing, and is why we have to think of new ways of raising funds all the time.

“The Nifty Fifty campaign has been very successful, and we will be looking to repeat it in the future, and hopefully raise even more.”

Weston Hospicecare thanks Weston College for their support with running Nifty Fifty, and all the other teams who put so much work into the fundraising challenge: Marks and Spencer (Flowerdown), Liza French, Quality Solicitors Burroughs Day, Richardson’s Wills, Prime Candidate, Weston Electrical Services, Techvolution, ASDA, Virgin Active, Hutton Primary School and EuroSigns, Shop Station and Casa Security.