UPDATE - Using Our Talents To Help

Wow what a whirlwind the past 24 hours has been. Firstly I want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has offered to donate prizes for the raffle.  The response has left me speechless, you are all amazingly generous.   I have also received offers of prizes from independant businesses that are not designer makers which is fantastic and offers of prizes from friends in the US aswell which is also amazing.  We now have jsut short of 50 businesses involved.

I have just spoken with Retail Trust, a charity working to support the 3 million people working in the retail sector in the UK.  I have confirmed with them that 100% of the funds we raise through the raffle will go directly to those retail staff and shopkeepers whose lives have been turned upside down by the riots.  This money will not go to the retail giants who can afford to rebuild and restock.  The funds raised will go to the independant shopkeepers, many of whom have also lost their homes as they live above their shop.  This money will also help fund counselling for these shopkeepers and their staff as many were held at knifepoint whilst their livelihoods were destroyed.

As independant businesses ourselves we can begin to understand the pain these people are experiencing and I felt that supporting Retail Trust was the perfect choice.  I really hope you are all in agreement and will continue to offer your support.

Now that a charity has been chosen I will finalise all the details of the raffle and contact each designer maker and small business that has offered a prize to confirm the exact prize and provide you with the full details of the raffle.  If you would like to donate a prize please get in touch before close of business on Friday as I would love to have everything ready to start on Monday next week.

Thank you.

Zoe
xx

We Can Use Our Talents To Help

I had a different post planned for today, but will save it, in light of the awful scenes that fill our TV screens as images of the mindless destruction are shown on many news channels.  I have cehecked with various Twitter friends in London that they are safe and that their shops and businesses have not been destroyed.  But I feel so helpless, sat here in at my desk in Suffolk. I want to go and help clean up the carnage, but I can't. And I know I am not alone reading tweets from friends around the country.

So I had a crazy idea, why not use our talents to help.  The clean up will take months maybe years as people are left homeless and have had their livelihoods taken from them.  My idea is to have a a big raffle or auction of donations from designer makers all over the UK.  I know there is not an official charity to help with the riot clean up and probably never will be as I know how much red tape there is to breakthrough in setting up an official charity. But maybe we could raise money for Shelter or the NSPCC or community charities in London to help them recover and try and rebuild their lives.

Between us we can help.  Our social networks are huge so we can spread the word for a raffle or auction which I am happy to manage on line through Just Giving or a similar website.  Now I just need to workout the finer details. In the meantime if  you would like to donate a prize please send me an email -

zoeanddrew {at} btinternet {dot} com (replace the words in {} with a sign!!) or send me dm on Twitter .  Thank you.

Take care, stay safe and let's pray that is the end of it.
Zoe
xx