We are delighted to announce that our February 2021 Company of the Month is FluidIT Consulting!

FluidIT began supporting Candlelighters last year, in response to our pandemic appeal and promptly became members of Candlelighters ‘Team 500’, by making a donation of £500.

The team were keen to support in other ways too and decided that they could use their online event series for SME businesses, Digital for Transformational Growth, to do this. Due to the pandemic, this would-be in-person event has been converted to an online schedule of webinars. Fantastically, they decided to donate the cost saving of each webinar in the series in lieu of holding the event in-person and also used their webinars as a way to talk to people about the work of Candlelighters and to share their support for us. They also supported our Candlelighters Christmas campaign and continue to work in partnership with us, looking at how they can add value to the charity.

Co-founder, Jonty Abbott, added, ‘The digital sector is doing ok and FluidIT is in the fortunate position of being able to help, despite the challenges of the pandemic. Charities like Candlelighters are experiencing a huge deficit in their fundraising targets, and this means very real-world problems when the work they do makes a considerable difference to people in our community. If you’re doing ok, now is the time to help out because they’re not doing ok. They’re in trouble. If you’ve got love to spare, if you can afford to help out, now is the time to do that.’

FluidIT was co-founded by two friends, Gareth Murphy and Jonty Abbott. The pair wanted to join their passions of helping businesses grow with the power of people and technology, and incorporating family values and being able to spend time with the people they love. The company grew on word of mouth and the team grew with people who shared their vision and values. Today FluidIT works across the UK and Europe with its roots embedded in Yorkshire.

FluidIT Technical Director Will Newham joined the business in 2020. As a member of the Kirkburton Uniformed Groups Beer Festival committee, (representing the parents and volunteers of the Scout and Girl Guides Groups of Kirkburton in Huddersfield), Will was already familiar with our work. In 2019, the group raised £1000 for Candlelighters, as we were supporting one of their scouts through their treatment.

Of their fabulous support, FluidIT said, ‘Coronavirus has affected all of us but for families coping with childhood cancer, the emotional, psychological and financial challenges are extreme. They need Candlelighters’ support now more than ever. The charity relies solely on the support of the community and their ability to fundraise has been massively impacted by Coronavirus restrictions.’

 

The Candlelighters Cottage Campaign was given a significant boost recently, making a real difference to the refurbishment process. Cash plan provider, Sovereign Healthcare, have donated a fantastic £5000 towards the children’s cancer charity developing overnight accommodation for families when their child is being treated as an in-patient at Leeds Children’s Hospital. Candlelighters supports several families in Bradford meaning the cash donated is going to impact people locally.

The Candlelighters cottage is just a stone’s throw away from Leeds Children’s Hospital and will provide family rooms to ensure that children with cancer can have both their mum and dad with them and their siblings too. The Cottage will provide a family with their own private bedroom that is a quiet and calm place to get a good night’s sleep in a comfortable bed. A well-rested parent is an asset to a child’s care as it puts them in a much better position to support their child, comfort and entertain them during the day.

The significant donation from Sovereign Healthcare could cover the cost of an entire bedroom and en suite refurbishment or even the furnishings in one of the communal spaces, such as the living room or kitchen.

Head of Income Development at the charity, Marie Peacock, told us “We are delighted that Sovereign Healthcare have made such a genourous donation and we can’t thank them enough for their support. The cottage will provide a homely place for families when they are facing the long, scary journey that is childhood cancer.”

From everyone here at Candlelighters we would like to thank Sovereign Healthcare. Your donation is going to make a huge difference to the refurbishment of the cottage and the lives of families facing childhood cancer.

To find out more about the Cottage Campaign please visit www.candlelighters.org.uk or call the team on 0113 3229283.

Corporate backing is absolutely key to helping Candlelighters support families across Yorkshire facing children’s cancer and we were delighted to receive a donation of £500 this week from the staff at Broad Gate offices in Leeds.

The participants at Broad Gate showed that fundraising is a fantastic way to bond as a team and have a great time, as they took part in their own Olympics challenges to mark Rio 2016.

For three weeks, staff were challenged every Friday to cycle, play badminton and boules- all in the name of charity. As they participated in each sport, their colleagues donated to the cause.

Organiser Chloe Cross said: “We really enjoyed organising this event and were grateful to everyone who participated and donated to Candlelighters.”

Candlelighters Corporate Fundraiser, Brian Curran said: “As the first person to watch the cycling I couldn’t resist the opportunity to get on the bike and ride 2 kilometres. I was over the moon to have the quickest time… until the next rider did it in half the time!”

Could you and your colleagues help Candlelighters? Contact us on 0113 322 9283 to speak to our Corporate Fundraiser, who is full of bright ideas on how to fundraise within the workplace!