Raising the funds With the Covid-19 pandemic having such a significant impact on our ability to raise funds, we would like to extend our grateful thanks to the many individuals and organisations who found a way to support us during the year, ensuring our lifesaving and life-changing work continued. The cancellation of mass participation events was a huge blow for our teams ready to take part in the London Marathon, Vitality 10,000, Ride London, Great North Run and Kew Gardens 10k. Most people were given a choice of either taking part in a virtual event or deferring their place to a future year. We also had to take the difficult decision to cancel our own Three Peaks Challenge and transform the Five Valleys Walk, which has been held on the last Sunday in September in Stroud for over 30 years, into the Fabulous Virtual Walk. As a result, income from events decreased by 49.5%. Despite the challenges of lockdown and social distancing, some people found remarkable ways to raise awareness and funds. For example, as part of the 2.6 Challenge, over 30 of our wonderful supporters were sponsored to bake, bike, bounce, sing or do a whole host of other things involving the numbers 2 and 6, together raising over £100k.
Harmonie sparkles in the 2.6 Challenge Little superstar Harmonie-Rose, really rose to the challenge of our 2.6 Challenge, a national appeal to help charities across the UK deal with the financial impact of lockdown, winning the nation’s hearts in the process. Harmonie, our first Junior Ambassador in recognition of the contribution she and her family – mum and dad Freya and Ross and aunties Jessica and Hannah – have made to fighting meningitis in the UK, appeared on television on Good Morning Britain to explain her 2.6 Challenge. Themed by mum Freya to reflect the six things she thought Harmonie, a quadruple amputee following meningitis as a baby, would never be able to do even once, Harmonie set about proving Mum wrong and completed, amongst other challenges, 26 cartwheels, jumped 26 times and gave us all Covid-19 advice by writing ‘Stay safe’ 26 times. Harmonie more than proved herself a very able gymnast, singer and swimmer. Each of the six challenges marked a year of Harmonie’s young and inspirational life since meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia damaged her legs and arms so badly that doctors were forced to amputate them, along with the tip of her nose, just before her first birthday. During the programme, presenter Piers Morgan felt moved to double her fundraising total by contributing a personal £1,700 to the pot and in doing so sparked a national outburst of generosity that saw Harmonie's total reach an amazing £75,000! As many as 47 million people saw Harmonie on Good Morning Britain and across the ITV UK network. You can watch the video of Harmonie’s 2.6 Challenge on our website here www.meningitisnow. org/support-us/news-centre/news-stories/celebrating-meningitis-now-26-challenge-heroes/
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