Hired! Helen & Douglas Retail Apprentice Challenge raises £3k

Professionals from solicitors Withy King and property consultancy Carter Jonas and were both “hired” when they took part in the Helen & Douglas Retail Apprentice Challenge in its Summertown shop on Thursday 25 April.

The two teams took over the charity shop to compete to increase sales for the day and raise awareness of the charity as much as possible.

With money taken on the day in the store, at the pavement’s pop up café, tombola and including future stock sales, auction receipts and Gift Aid, the fundraising for Helen & Douglas House reached nearly £3,000. Both teams were “hired”, as in total the combined cash takings more than doubled the highest amount ever taken in one day at a Helen & Douglas shop.

Robert Pinheiro, senior marketing manager at Withy King said: “The winners were Helen & Douglas House which made the whole event so enjoyable. My thanks go out to the teams, our clients and local businesses. It was great to get so many Withy King and Carter Jonas people together to play a small part in helping to raise funds to help Oxfordshire’s children and young adults continue to visit Helen & Douglas House where they are given help to live life to the full, even when that life is short”.

Mark Charter, head of Carter Jonas’ Oxford office added: “Both Withy King and Carter Jonas worked so incredibly hard to contribute to this fantastic day and raise so much money for such a worthy cause. My sincere thanks go out to everyone for their hard work, time and contributions. Also huge thanks to our clients who made so many generous donations of money and clothes, and also the Summertown businesses who played a huge part through their kind donations including Majestic Wine, Happy Cakes, Jelly Design.

Helen & Douglas House handed over the reigns to the mixed team as part of its overall fundraising initiative as it costs £5 million a year to run its two hospice houses and they are dependent on voluntary contributions for over 80%.