Queenscourt Hospice in Southport needs your help more now than ever before and is asking supporters old and new to get involved with the newly launched 2.6 Challenge campaign which aims to raise thousands of pounds for charity.
To help spread the word of Challenge 2.6 and raise even more money, they are asking anyone taking part on behalf of Queenscourt to nominate others to join them.
The Covid-19 pandemic has meant Queenscourt has had to cancel many of its fundraising initiatives and is facing a huge loss in revenue as a result.
The Virgin Money London Marathon, which should have taken place on April 26, would have seen five runners taking part in support of Queenscourt. The event is the world’s biggest one-day fundraising event, which raised more than £66.4 million for thousands of charities in 2019.
As the marathon cannot take place as planned, the organisers of the biggest mass participation sports events across the country have come together to create a new campaign to raise vital funds for UK charities, including Queenscourt.
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The 2.6 Challenge will launch on April 26 and will last for a week. Queenscourt supporters are being asked to dream up an activity based around the numbers 2.6 or 26 and seek sponsorship or simply make a donation directly to the hospice at www.queenscourt.org.uk/26challenge using Virgin Money Giving.
The 2.6 Challenge is open to anyone of any age and the only requirement is that the activity must follow the Government guidelines on exercise and social distancing and staying local.
This could be something as simple as pledging to run jog/ walk 2.6 miles as your daily exercise; skipping, hopping or hula-hooping for 26 minutes or tossing 26 pancakes, chipping 26 golf balls into a bucket or scoring 26 basketball/netball hoops.
Don’t worry if you’re not able to get out your house or flat for now – you can do your 2.6 challenge anywhere inside too.
Queenscourt’s mascot Queenie has started off the hospice’s fundraising by completing 26 star jumps and is now hoping people of all ages will follow her example and start fundraising for Queenscourt.
Fundraisers take part in the Queenscourt Hospice Star Trekk walk
In a bid to get as many people involved as possible, once you have completed your 2.6 Challenge why not nominate five others to get involved with fundraising for Queenscourt?
“The 2.6 Challenge can be anything that works for you,” says Nick Rusling, Co-Chair of the Mass Participation Sports Organisers group (MSO) and CEO of Human Race. “We want people to get active, have fun and raise money to help Save the UK’s Charities by giving money or raising funds for the charity close to your heart.”
Kate Tipton-Thomas, Queenscourt’s Head of Income Generation and Communications, said: “We think the 2.6 Challenge is a phenomenal idea and hope our supporters will get behind it and come up with interesting and ingenious ways to raise desperately needed funds for Queenscourt.
“The postponement of several of our major fundraising events will result in a significant loss of income for Queenscourt which will hit us hard. Anything anyone can do to help us bridge that loss will be greatly appreciated.”
Queenscourt Hospice is a Southport-based charity that provides free, high-quality care for the people of Southport, Formby and West Lancs. The hospice cares for patients with far advanced, progressive, incurable illnesses, enabling them to achieve the best possible quality of life at each new stage. They help to do this both in Queenscourt and at home through their In-Patient unit, Queenscourt Connect and Queenscourt at Home services, as well as sending specialist nurses and doctors into hospital and into people’s homes to advise and support patients, families and the frontline staff caring for them.
For more details visit the Queenscourt Hospice website by clicking the link here.
