LOROS would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Highcross, Leicester for their fantastic support during the three years we have been their charity of choice.
We became the Highcross Leicester charity partner in 2015 and this partnership has been going from strength to strength ever since.
During our partnership, Highcross has raised more than £12,000 through a number of different fundraising activities. This equates to the cost of one of our specialist nurses looking after our inpatients for more than 17 weeks and we are very grateful for this wonderful financial contribution towards the care we provide.
We can’t thank the Highcross staff enough for their support, sponsorship and generosity. They have been involved in many of our campaigns and events.
Each year we saw staff members wearing items in yellow to raise awareness about our partnership.
In 2017 they took part in our Accumulator Challenge and grew their £50 stake to a stunning £3,784!
Staff members volunteered their time and skill to set up a pop-up charity store for us and engaged their customers in a number of different fundraising games including the LOROS static triathlon challenge.
Lionel, the LOROS Lion visited the Centre on many occasions and was always welcomed and well received by the staff and the public.
They invited LOROS Ambassador Stephen Graham – a Hollywood actor – to rattle his bucket for the Hospice at Highcross! which received a lot of interest from the public and the local media.
Our two biggest events, the Leicester Marathon and the Twilight Walk, have been supported by Highcross Leicester each year.
The logistics and organisation for these are massive and the help and support we receive from the Highcross Management and Operations teams mean everything to us; their help has been truly invaluable.
It was very emotional to see the Beacons on St. Peter’s Square displaying the specially designed artwork for the events and to raise awareness about the Hospice.
Highcross team members took part in these events as well as the Leicester to Skegness Bike Ride, the Hinckley Colourfun Mile and our LOROS Ball to name just a few.
Our LOROS Local vehicle has also visited St. Peter’s Square providing customers and passers-by with advice about all the different services that LOROS can provide.
The estimated value of goods and unclaimed lost property donated through the LOROS Donation Station totals £3,725 and it is equivalent to complementary therapy sessions for 149 patients or their family members - it is an incredible result!
Hundreds of our Events Brochures have been displayed at the information points around the shopping mall. This has proved invaluable in providing us with a commercial place, free of charge, for us to promote our initiatives in a way we would never be able to afford. It helped amazingly to raise awareness and to bring greater participation and audiences to our fundraising events.
Magdalena Korytkowska, Partnership Development Lead at LOROS, said: "It is nigh on impossible to list on here all the times that Highcross have come to our rescue and provided solutions to our problems; we just know that whenever we do struggle we can always ring and ask for help.
"A great example of their co-operation was free of charge parking spaces for our volunteers during our Forget Me Not display in Jubilee Square. As this was a week-long event, the city centre parking fees would have taken a significant amount from the profit of this campaign. It was wonderful to be able to count on our partner!
"We have had a wonderful three-year partnership and we would like to take this opportunity to thank Highcross Leicester for selecting us as their chosen charity for this extended period of time - it has been a fantastic journey for us.
"My special thanks go to the General Manager Jo Tallack for her enthusiasm towards the partnership, Community Manager Tina Barton for shaping our relationship and bringing it to the next level, Deputy General Manager Mark Colton for his patience and understanding and every member of staff who so kindly and generously supported us. It is always such a pleasure to work with the team and we have lots of fun together."
