Three Girls, Three Countries, Three Days. This is what Anna Perkins is preparing to do this summer, raising in money for The Christie Cancer Hospital in Manchester. However, this trio are not stopping there, they are raising money left, right and centre for this cause. We chat to Anna Perkins about this incredible journey.
Could you tell our readers why have you chosen to fundraise for The Christie Cancer Hospital?
I decided to start working at The Christie Hospital last year after my aunty Mary sadly died of cancer in 2017. It’s an amazing place and every patient has their own story. I’ve taken on this challenge, along with two of my friends, to raise a whopping £6,750 – this will go towards a new CT scanner for the 44,000 cancer patients that need scans before and during their treatment. Our challenge ends in the alps – trekking through 3 countries in 3 days for The Christie!
You seem to be working on various forms of fundraising – could you tell us a few of the things you’ll be doing to raise this money?
We have a big target to reach so we’ve had to get busy! So far we’ve held craft sales, bake sales, sweepstakes (this involved me carting around a giant bunny with me everywhere for about a month… don’t ask) sponsored cycles and competitions.
We’re also currently running a raffle and will be doing lots of car boot sales over the summer to sell preloved items from our friends, family and colleagues! I’m tired just thinking about it…
This sounds like quite a journey! What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced so far?
It’s been challenging but good fun. Coming up with creative ideas is difficult – we have to keep finding new ways of making money! Not everything has been successful – we turned up to one flea market when we first started and after a full evening only made £2 profit! The other main challenge for us so far was our sponsored cycle… we all struggled to sit down for about 3 days afterwards!
Ouch! And how important is it to have support of local businesses?
Local businesses have been so great in supporting us and helping us to get the message out about our fundraising. The Pop up Painting team have very kindly donated a prize into our raffle (thank you!) for a painting session for two, along with lots of other great donations from local businesses which we hope will help us to raise lots of funds for the hospital. Businesses like Pop up have also given us a great platform to talk about the cause. Thanks guys!
How can people help you raise this money for The Christie Cancer Hospital?
If you’d like to support our fundraising, you can donate straight to my fundraising page here or follow our fundraising journey and get involved via our team instagram @alpsalpsbaby.
And finally, why the Alps? Do you guys have any experience in trekking?
Haha, absolutely not! We’re trekking with a big team for The Christie in September, right before my 30th birthday! My aunty loved rambling and could always be found up a hill, even with stage 4 cancer! The views are going to be amazing and she would have loved this whole thing – this is for you, Mary!
