Our supporters
Our Members and supporters are responsible for well over 40% of our income through community fundraising events such as running marathons, jumping out of planes with parachutes, hosting dinners, making and selling jam, cycle rides, jailbreaks, coffee mornings, fancy-dress collections, slimathons, assault courses and many, many more.
Below is a snap shot of some of our members who have been raising money for us for many years. The space is just not large enough to credit all our members and their incredible efforts.
Caroline and Noel Holohan from Burnage
Caroline and Noel’s 20-year-old son Simon died from meningitis in 1999. Since joining MRF they’ve taken part in sponsored fun-runs, half-marathons, held charity dinners at Golf Clubs, and on May 16, 2009, marked the tenth anniversary of Simon’s death with ‘Simon’s Day’ - an evening of remembrance with family, friends and well-wishers at Burnage Garden Village Hall. Caroline and Noel have raised over £30,000 for MRF in ten years of fundraising.
Debbie Chessum from Lincolnshire
Debbie’s daughter Holly-Rose recovered from pneumococcal meningitis in 2003 aged just 11 months. A keen runner, Debbie has run the London and DisneyWorld marathons for MRF and hosted black-tie fundraising balls, raising over £15,000.
Craig and Anthea Berry from Bridgwater
Craig and Anthea lost their one-year-old son Ethan to meningococcal meningitis in 2004. Their fundraising achievements include a 14-mile sponsored walk, a charity ball, and most recently a cheeky but tasteful nude calendar in support of MRF. They’ve raised £45,000 to date.
Ken and Brenda Robinson from Sunderland
Ken and Brenda’s son Glen died from meningococcal septicaemia in 1997. Glen was an accomplished sportsman, and many of the Robinson family’s fundraising events feature sports he loved. Sponsored cricket games, football matches and a coast-to-coast cycle ride among many other events, have raised over £50,000 for MRF in twelve years of fundraising.
Judi and Richard Mills from Marlow
Judi and Richard’s 11-year-old son, Harry, died from meningococcal meningitis in 2007. A prodigious sportsman, Harry’s memory lives on through sporting events such as sponsored parachute jumps, fun-runs and rugby matches with local teams and 2007 Heineken Cup winners London Wasps. They’ve raised £66,000 to date.
Corporate Partnerships
Brahm
Brahm is one of the leading independent communications agency in the UK. Their Sh! Awards were launched in 2003 and are now the biggest platform in the region for aspiring design and new media students. Brahm have been supporting MRF through the Sh! Awards since 2003.
Raj Foods
Raj Foods is the longest serving provider of Halal meals for the public sector in the UK. Raj Foods is an active and proud supporter of the Foundation. In 2008 they organised a fantastic Gala Dinner for us, raising over £15,000 and have plans for a similar event in 2010.
The Yum Yums
The Yum Yums are the creation of first time author Jess Porter and are a series of children stories based around a healthy eating theme. Due to her family’s experience of meningitis, Jess will be donating a percentage of the royalties to MRF.
Cameron McKenna
This leading global law firm has chosen to support MRF with a series of fundraising events ranging from running the London Marathon to organising a Cheese and Wine Tasting Event. The team hope to raise over £17,000 throughout the year.
Photo Me
This manufacturer and operator of photo booths and children’s rides are supporting MRF with donations through their machines. This partnership is in conjunction with two other charities - SignHealth, who work to improve the healthcare and quality of life of deaf people, and Greenfingers, who improve the lives of children in hospices by the creation of magical gardens.
Newcastle City Council
The Lord Mayor, Mike Cookson, has personally chosen MRF as one of two Charity of the Year partners 2009/10, and will be holding a series of events such as a Golf Day and a Winter Ball.
Northern Racing
Northern Racing is a group of ten race courses throughout the UK and they will be supporting MRF throughout 2009/10. A team of employees are running the Great North Run and there will also be collections at each race. The company is also hoping to organise a celebrity race day at Bath race course.
BPI Telecom
BPI Telecom is Ireland's biggest importer and distributor of mobile phones and accessories. They have chosen to support Meningitis Research Foundation and hope to raise approximately 1 million Euros over three years.
Pharmaceutical Support
MRF currently receives about 3- 4 percent of annual income in the form of bi-annual conference sponsorship, restricted and unrestricted educational grants from pharmaceutical companies.
We wish to acknowledge in alphabetical order the particularly generous support of:
GlaxoSmithKline who in addition to unrestricted grants have also recently funded awareness literature with Red Flag Symptoms information, our training and our bi-annual International Conference.
Novartis Vaccines who in addition to unrestricted grants have supported our Awareness Campaigns, our web based language files and our bi-annual International Conference.
Wyeth Vaccines who in addition to unrestricted grants have supported awareness campaigns for parents and carers of under-fives our training and medical information and medical information for health professionals.
MRF also values our ongoing relationships with Baxter, Eli Lilley, Sanofi and Xoma who have supported our conferences and helped us to raise awareness.
We have a policy of ensuring out pharmaceutical income does not increase beyond 10 per cent of our overall annual income.