Kind-hearted staff at an award winning garden centre near Bradford have completed a 16 mile walk to raise funds for a Leeds charity.
The 12 colleagues from Tong Garden Centre who donned their walking boots for the trek round Malham Tarn in the Yorkshire Dales are on track to raise over £3,500 for Candlelighters.
It took the group six and a half hours to complete the walk, and marketing assistant Pete Casci, who came up with the fundraising idea, was delighted with the anticipated amount raised.
He said: “We’re over the moon that we have almost doubled our target, smashing the initial £2,000 that we set ourselves. It was a fun but very challenging 16 mile walk and there were a few aching muscles the next day, but none of that matters because it was a great day out with fabulous colleagues, and all to help children with cancer – so it’s more than worth it!”
Candlelighters corporate fundraiser Brian Curran is delighted with Tong’s support and added: “Tong’s support is invaluable. Last year, we embarked on a special project to renovate a property for use by families whose children are being treated at Leeds Children’s Hospital for cancer. We need to raise £600,000 to realise our dream of transforming it into a quiet and calm place where families can be near their children as they battle against childhood cancer.”
The team at Tong aims to raise £10,000 for Candlelighters in 2018 through a series of fund-raising events and collection boxes at the tills. Earlier in the year, Tong’s managing director Mark Farnsworth led a team of cyclists to complete the Tour de Yorkshire challenge and raised £3,400 for the charity. To support the Tong team’s charity walk, please visit https://give.everydayhero.com/uk/tong-garden.
The Candlelighters Trust (Candlelighters) is Yorkshire’s pre-eminent children’s cancer charity, providing practical, emotional and financial support to children living with cancer in Yorkshire and their families.
