We’re excited to announce that The Harlequins Foundation has been selected to participate in The Big Give Christmas Challenge , the UK’s largest match funding campaign. Last year, thanks to generous supporters like you the campaign raised over £15 million for participating charities.
We are raising vital funds for our wheelchair rugby team, The Jesters to buy two of our own specialised sports wheelchairs for our incredible team, which cost £4,000 each. To ensure our team can continue to grow and be accessible to new players we must source more chairs. Without these essential pieces of equipment many wheelchair users, such as Claudia, would not be able to experience the many life changing benefits that come with being part of a sports team.
“Playing in The Jesters has massively boosted my confidence both within sport but also my day to day life. Before I started playing wheelchair rugby I was struggling to adjust to becoming a wheelchair user, but through the club I have made lots of new friends who have taught me new wheelchair skills, given me confidence and helped me to feel normal again, all things that have helped me outside of rugby as well.
To lead the team as Captain has been amazing and a real honour. I really enjoy sharing my passion and knowledge for the sport with my teammates but most of all making sure everyone is having fun! It’s so hard to find opportunities to play sport when you have a disability, so to have a wheelchair rugby team on my doorstep now is invaluable and means I can finally play sports with friends once again.”
– Claudia Burrough, Jesters Captain
As a result of securing £2,000 in pledges from our loyal supporters, we have unlocked the maximum champion funding of £2,000 from the Monday Charitable Trust. This means we have an amazing £4,000 already sitting in our ‘matching pot’.
During the live campaign starting on the 1st December, all donations we receive up to £4,000 will be DOUBLED!
Here is how YOU can get involved…
GET INVOLVED IN OUR BIG GIVE AUCTION – We will be holding an online auction from 12pm 23rd Nov to 8pm 30th November with some amazing prizes up for grabs! Prizes include signed Harlequins merchandise, fine artwork, special experiences, and exclusive sports memorabilia. Make sure you keep an eye on your emails and our social media to see when the auction goes live. All profits The Harlequins Foundation receives through the auction will be doubled, so be sure to visit our page and BID BIG!
DONATE TO OUR BIG GIVE CAMPAIGN – You can donate via our campaign page which is live to receive donations from 1st -8th December. All donations up to £4,000 received during the week will be DOUBLED!
SHARE THE BIG GIVE CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE – One of the most valuable things you can do to support our campaign is sharing our campaign page amongst your professional networks, friends, and family. Often spreading the word can be just as impactful as donating!
So please, support our Wheelchair rugby team and help us to make sport accessible for all!