While the rest of you are gearing up for Christmas, here at The Society of St James we are focusing our attentions on a certain, special, upcoming birthday celebration.
On March 25th 1972, £250 was granted to St James’ Church Hall for a short stay shelter for 12 homeless people.
This makes March 25th 2012 The Society of St James’ BIG four zero! That’s right, it will be our 40th Birthday!
With the significant growth of the organisation from supporting 12 individuals to approximately 1000 at any given time, from employing a handful of staff to over 170, and from specifically putting a roof over people’s heads to supporting people through many of the issues that can lead to homelessness – we felt that the occasion of our 40th birthday was one well worth marking.
So, to mark the occasion we are planning to facilitate a number (well, why not 40 of them?) of 40 related fundraising activities throughout the year in which we are hoping to engage much of the community.
1) We are holding ONE BIG Sleepout on the 9th March.
We will be holding our own Sleepout along with other community groups, such as the Girl Guides, hosting their own Sleepouts on the same night at their own venues, all challenging themselves to raise a minimum of £40 for SSJ.
The event will be county wide to mark the Society’s expansion into Hampshire.
If you would like to sleep out with us or arrange an event for a group of your own please get in touch with our Corporate and Community Fundraiser, dee.russell@ssj.org.uk.
2) For 40 Days from 15th Feb 2012 to 25th March (our actual birthday) we will be encouraging people to undertake sponsored fundraising - lent style – challenges such as giving something up or eating only soup, or walking a mile a day – 40 miles in 40 days etc.
3) Why not get a team of 4 together and run the Great South Run for The Society of St James? Between you, you will have run 40 miles, which ties in rather nicely.
4) Alongside our 40 Day sponsorship activity, we are planning on launching a standing order/payroll giving campaign. We’re challenging ourselves to increase our numbers of regular donors in line with many of our other birthday plans, specifically around the numbers forty, four, ten and zero …
Happy Birthday SSJ, 2012 is going to be amazing.
