Wonderful service from start to finish.
Rock Your Socks this year for Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association!
The last 12 months have been incredibly turbulent for everyone around the world, and charities in particular have seen their fundraising opportunities diminish. This is why we are so pleased to be able to continue our support for Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association as we launch our joint awareness campaign for the eighth consecutive year. Claire Battye, Partner in our Commercial Property team, explains more about the week, why we are continuing to be involved and how everyone can support this wonderful charity in raising much needed funds and awareness.
Down Syndrome Awareness Week this year will run from 15th to 21st March and is an annual campaign organised to start conversations and discussions about supporting those amongst our communities living with Down Syndrome and their families. Claire commented, “Ordinarily when launching the week we would ask our staff to dress up and make donations, and last year we had our teams together to rock their socks just before lockdown began. This year this will obviously be slightly different, but we are determined to bring in the results for Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association and have another successful year. Our staff will be rocking their socks from home this year, with a competition for the most creative photo, and of course we will donating £1 to the charity for every new like to their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin pages during this week.”
Who are Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association?
Portsmouth DSA is a self-funding charity giving support to families and schools across Hampshire, ranging from education services, information days and a variety of social events, all provided in a warm and welcoming environment. In recent years, the charity has also been heavily involved in lobbying Government for change and campaigning for equal rights for those with learning disabilities. Due to their work and success in the region Rachael Ross, founder of the charity awarded with an MBE in 2019.
“We are thrilled to be partnering for the eighth consecutive year with the fantastic team at Warner Goodman who will once again be generously sponsoring and actively supporting our social media awareness campaign," commented Rachael. "Like many charities, we’ve seen our income and reach severely impacted by COVID-19, and as we cautiously begin to edge our way out of lockdown, we are very keen to reconnect with our community. It’s apt that the theme for DS Awareness Week this year is #CONNECT, and we look forward to re-establishing old links and making new connections, and with the continued support of Warner Goodman, we hope to be able to spread awareness to a much wider audience than might otherwise be possible.”
Claire concludes, “We are incredibly proud of our long standing relationship with Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association and that we have been able to raise over £18,000 over the last eight years through the awareness week, as well as members of staff taking part in the fundraising activities such as the Great South Run, an abseil down Spinnaker Tower and a 10,000 foot skydive! We will certainly miss joining the charity for their coffee mornings and other events that are normally hosted during the week, but we are ready to embrace the new way of fundraising this year and achieving new heights for Rachael and all of the families that receive support from the charity.”
You can support the charity during the week by liking their social media platforms using the links below:
For every new like received during the week, we will donate £1 to Portsmouth DSA (capped at £2,000), and you can follow the success of the campaign on social media using the hashtags #PortsmouthDSA #CONNECT #RockYourSocks and #WDSD21.