An Early Christmas Present

In 2020 there have been some words that have trapped us into thinking that the world is not at all well.  Words like Covid, virus, lockdown, tier, and deal or no deal. 

Humbug!  Let’s celebrate our word of the year....BONUS.

We reveal earlier in this Newsletter our tremendous BONUS success with Crowdfunding for our Kenya Water Project.  It hasn’t stopped there – here’s another BONUS story!

Thank You Santa For Our Early Christmas Present

We reported previously on how club members participated in the 2020 Virtual Billericay Fun Walk in September organised by the Basildon, Billericay and Wickford CVS, with 85 organisations registered and an estimated fourteen hundred participants walking to raise money for good causes.

Our sponsored members (limited to under six by Covid-19 restrictions) raised approximately £2500 in sponsorship money.  A unique benefit of this event is the Bonus Pot.  Each year local businesses support MP John Baron by sponsoring his walk. Their generosity creates a Bonus Pot which is distributed amongst the Fun Walkers’ charities in proportion to the money each participant raised.

Dug Deep For Local Charities

Commenting on this year’s event, John said “We thought long and hard about whether to hold the event this year given the situation, but we are lucky enough to have long-term sponsors who despite being impacted by Covid-19 were able to dig deep this year and continue to support local charities. Out thanks go to Swan Housing Association, Tunnelcraft, Anisha Grange Care Home, Butyl Products Group, Leonardo MW, IFE Global Logistics, McDonald’s Restaurants Basildon and others”.

Simon Johnson, Chief Officer at BBWCVS said at the time “We had to completely change the format of this year’s event – but through our work with local charities we know the importance of events like this to support the continuation of their work. We are delighted so many organisations were able to take part in this year’s event, and look forward to being able to report the total raised.”
This year’s walk has raised over £103,000, bringing the total raised since the event began in 2002 to over £1.2 Million.

Still A Pot Of Gold

With the generosity of local businesses and despite the dire economic situation, this year’s Trust Bonus Pot was still nearly 30 percent!  Result: On top of the approximately £2500 sponsorship which we raised, we received a bonus of £733.  All to go to charity and good causes.

The cheque is usually presented by local MP John Baron to all participants in November at a ceremony at Anisha Grange, but with current restrictions this was obviously not possible.

How to receive the money?  Well, it is Christmas!  Santa Claus to the rescue.  To the delight of Rotary Club of Billericay members, Santa turned up on December 14, the club’s last meeting of 2020, to make sure we received our money!The Club’s last meeting?

Well, Covid means that we can’t meet in person face-to-face, but we do meet every week over Zoom, and members were all on hand to cheer as President Peter held up the cheque for £733 for all to see.  And added: “Now that’s what I call a Christmas present!”