Our current fundraising initiative, the 30 for 30 Challenge encourages people to take part in an activity inspired by the number 30, beginning their activity at any point during September. The fundraiser focuses on health and well-being, encouraging supporters to get up and get active.
People of all ages from across Kent, Surrey and Sussex have signed up for the 30 for 30 Challenge and we hope that more participants will sign up as the month progresses. Amongst those taking part are:
- Cary Kwaramba-Downs from Greenhithe, who is running 30 minutes a day for the 30 days in September to thank us for saving her boyfriend’s life after a serious motorbike accident.
- Sam Egbochue from Hadlow Down, whose teenage son is a former KSS patient, and who is doing 30 squats a day with a 30kg bar for 30 days.
- Nine-year-old Scarlett Fuller from Ash who is cycling 30 miles over 30 days, inspired to raise funds for us after we treated her grandfather when he was thrown from a horse on West Wittering beach.
Team KSS are also getting behind the 30 for 30 Challenge. Employees, volunteers and trustees from across our organisation have been invited to collectively walk 30 million steps to celebrate our 30th anniversary year.
Our CEO, David Welch, is cycling 30 miles a day and our Chair of the Board of Trustees, Helen Bowcock, will swim 300 lengths of a swimming pool. She was due to take part in the two mile Serpentine Swim to raise funds for KSS but this annual event has been cancelled so she will swim the equivalent distance but in calmer waters.
We’re also celebrating major success, having won a prestigious Charity Times award which was open to national and regional charities and not-for-profit organisations from across the UK.
We’ve been crowned Charity of the Year (income over £10 million) in recognition of consistently delivering an outstanding and pioneering service and demonstrating all round excellence, particularly over the last year.
The award, given during our 30th anniversary year, provides a fantastic endorsement for us as we seek to raise vital funds to cover the significant shortfall that we must raise in order to make sure we can continue to save lives 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The announcement of the award coincides with Air Ambulance Week 2020 which highlights the incredible care that is delivered by air ambulance charities across the UK, bringing the emergency department to the side of patients who are critically ill and injured. Since our inception 30 years ago, we have attended 30,000 life threatening incidents.
David Welch comments, “As we celebrate our 30th anniversary year, we couldn’t be prouder of what we have collectively achieved. Winning Charity Times’ Charity of the Year Award, a highly competitive national award, is the icing on the cake!
“As always, we must continue to look to the future for our charity – and safeguarding the future of KSS remains our priority. At the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic we faced a shortfall of £2.9m but thanks to the immense generosity and dedication of our supporters we have been able to raise £1.5m so far. Despite this success we still need to address our outstanding £1.4m shortfall to ensure we can continue to save lives. We are so grateful for the support and kindness we have received to date and we are urging people to get behind our 30 for 30 Challenge – either by doing a Challenge themselves or sponsoring those who are taking part.”