Sunrise of Edgbaston on Church Road, is working with West Midlands-based charity Acorns Children’s Hospice, to support its mission of providing a network of care for children with life limiting and life threatening conditions.
To kick-start the partnership, the community is launching a ‘Pay for a Day’ initiative to raise money for the hospice, presenting its very own donation of £500 by way of giant cheque. Sunrise’s campaign will aim to support the hospice’s mission of ‘making every day count’ and raise the required funds for a full day of care at Acorns Birmingham hospice, based in Selly Oak, while spreading the word about how the community can get involved.
Sunrise launched the partnership by hosting a special open-house event on Monday 22 October, with the local community enjoying prosecco and nibbles while finding out more about the work of both Sunrise and Acorns. As well as welcoming visitors to the community, Sunrise of Edgbaston has also renamed some of its living areas, with ‘Acorns Suite’ and ‘Acorns Room’ becoming special parts of the residence.
The open-house event launched what will be a long-term partnership between Sunrise of Edgbaston and Acorns, with a host of exciting activities and fundraising events planned. This will include a Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ online video challenge, where participants will nominate somebody to take part next, in what will become a social media chain of fundraising and fun.
In December, Acorns will celebrate its 30th birthday and Sunrise of Edgbaston will also be on hand to help them mark the special occasion. Sunrise will host a very special ‘Bake-Off’ event with an Acorn-themed ‘showstopper’ challenge and will submit a cake made by its very own head chef Sam. Slices from all entries will be available for guests to purchase and enjoy, with proceeds going to the charity. In the next year, supporters can even expect a sponsored sky-dive from Sunrise director of community relations Ted.
Ted Richardson, director of community relations at Sunrise of Edgbaston says: “We are delighted to be working closely with Acorn’s Children’s Hospice to raise money and awareness of its excellent work in supporting children and families in the local community. We are really looking forward to officially launching our partnership and hosting a range of activities and events that can be enjoyed by the whole local community, for a very worthy cause.”
Amanda Smallman, senior fundraising manager for corporate and community at Acorns, says: “We’re thrilled that Sunrise of Edgbaston has chosen to support Acorns by paying for a day of care at our Birmingham hospice and we’re honoured to have a living area and room named after us.
"It costs us £7000 every 24 hours at each of our hospices to provide our vital care and services, both in the hospice and in the community, so this partnership will not only raise greater awareness of Acorns, it will also make a real difference to the children and families we care for.”
