OfficeResponse

The title ‘Entrepreneur of the year’ is usually associated with businesses rather than charities however it is this award that Office Response and 17 other Bristol based teams are competing for in the Sue Ryder Care, Big Wigs Challenge.

Sue Ryder Care is a charity that provides end of life care for people with long-term conditions such as Cancer, Huntingdon’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia to name a few.

The Big Wigs Challenge is a Sue Ryder Care fundraising event and the aim is to enlist teams of local businesses and entrepreneurs to compete in a money making challenge!

Each team is presented with a £50 note with the aim of raising as much as possible by using their initiative to come up with fundraising ideas. After 4 months each team must return all profits, along with the £50, to the charity.

The Office Response team consists of 9 people from different areas of the business, including the Managing Director, and we are using the diverse skill sets and joint determination to raise as much money for Sue Ryder Care as we can.

So far we have sold cooked breakfasts to Office Response Staff, with members of the Big Wigs team being volunteer chefs, wrapped up warm and braved the recent cold weather to fundraise in a local Sainsbury’s, acquired generous gifts from local and national companies to be sold in our Christmas auction and we have created the ‘Call Centre Cup’ which will see Office Response and 4 of our friendly competitors carry out a sponsored 24 hour bike ride.

The ride will take place in the week before Christmas on a stationary bike and the company who clocks up the most miles in the 24 hours will be crowned winners of the Call Centre Cup 2010!

While the overall aim of this challenge is to raise as much money for Charity as possible it has served as a great team building exercise and also offered personal development for the individuals involved. The competition element of the challenge has meant everyone involved has stayed really motivated to get the best return on our £50 and to be crowned ‘Charity Entrepreneur of the Year’.

If you would like to support us in our challenge please visit our Just Giving page;

www.justgiving.com/officeresponse and check out our team blog for more information on our events www.mOReforcharity.wordpress.com

Felicity Clack

Customer Services Manager