Thank you for Supporting the Turkey Campaign 2023

Welcome to #PinkNicky’s Blog, your weekly dose of adventure ideas and Turkey Fundraising news.

It’s Saturday morning, so grab your tea and toast.

What did I get up to this week: This week was dominated by posting about Turkeys and making sure we hit our fundraising target of £2500. I did get to the gym twice, finished reading my Bear Grylls book, started my training for my next adventure, and made a homemade advent calendar for my bestie.

There’s no better start to the week than waking up to find I’ve hit my Turkey Target! View the campaign here. For the last 10 days we have been raising money for 2 charities Safe in Sussex and Worthing Soup Kitchen, we hit our target of £2500 and now it stands at £2665!! The aim is to feed 250 people over the Christmas period.

A new chapter of the Turkey campaign starts today — one filled with hot meals, food parcels and a safe space on Christmas Day. As the shopping tasks begin, the baton is passed to the dedicated team of volunteers, ready to transform donations into meals for the vulnerable among us. Their teams of volunteers are now standing by to cook and serve Christmas dinner for all the men, women and children in their care.

Living with the cost of living crisis and the sad state of the world at the moment, I wasn’t sure if this campaign would go down like a lead balloon! 

But more than ever before you’ve stepped up and embraced the opportunity to spread a little Christmas cheer amid these challenging times.  The target was a big ask in 10 days, but it has become the most successful Turkey appeal to date.

We have always believed that a community’s collective energy and actions can achieve great things and this little mission just proves it! 

All the SMALL donations added up to make a BIG difference. Never underestimate the collective kindness of friends and contacts across social media.

To everyone that donated and spread the word on social media a massive THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. 

It feels good to spread some Turkey Love xx

Scores on the Doors

1 Turkey Fundraising Mission: total raised to date is £2665 (justgiving page closes Sunday 17th Dec at midnight)

10-day campaign

2 Charities: Safe in Sussex and Worthing Soup Kitchen 

Donations ranged from £500 to £5 – we even got a donation from a dog called Ruby!!

94 donators – Donations from friends, family, dippers, neighbours, MNC ‘ers, #AdventureMind friends and strangers from across the UK.

This resulted in enough money being raised to feed 250+ people over the Christmas period.

Thank you for all the random acts of kindness along the way, Debbie Mann, the Gingerbread figures created by The Gingerbread Hub, Hazel and her team (Jo Wright, Fiona Langdon, Alex G, Kathryn de Vecchi) offering to make 120 biscuits, Anita is off to the Cash and Carry, lots of volunteers offered to help with shopping and several recommendations for greengrocers and butchers. Thank you to Marie and Martyn Jepp from Jupps Fish and Chip Ship in Burgess Hill for providing the potatoes, rumbling them (peeling) and delivering straight to the Charity.

This is what the mammoth shopping list currently looks like:

14 turkey crowns, 16 gammon joints, loads of pigs in blankets

6 sacks of potatoes,1 big bag of parsnips, 1000 sprouts, 2 bags of carrots

Greengrocers for fresh veggies, Cash and Carry for dry goods

25 Superstar volunteers to do all the prepping and serving

1 Camper Van called Daisy to carry out the deliveries

The Annual Turkey Campaign works in several of ways:

Raising Funds: Most importantly it raises funds for the charity, to help with additional cash to buy more food for more people and the added benefit, is that it diverts resources to other services provided by the charities.

Starts a ripple effect: People watch what you’re doing and think “oh what are they up to? I would like to raise some money” Be the person that starts a ripple effect. Find a charity that is close to your heart and plan a fundraising event in 2024 from a small bake sale to a big adventure across the world. If you take action and complete something out of the ordinary, maybe your friends and colleagues will feel inspired to support you or get involved themselves.

Learn about a new charity: and support the work they do. You play a part in raising awareness and your actions and donations can help influence others into getting involved. Every charity has been massively hit by the lockdown hangover and it’s important that we all take some action to help kickstart their 24/25 events programmes.

We close with a little message from the Charities

A big Thank you from Worthing Soup Kitchen;

Thank you to Nicky, The Turkey Queen and to all the supporters of this years campaign. Your donations have ensured we can provide hot meals and a glimmer of hope on Christmas Day. We run our services all year round but Christmas is always extra hard on those living on the streets. You have made Christmas happen for many. Thank you!

A big Thank you from Safe in Sussex;

Safe in Sussex is so grateful to all the supporters of the annual Turkey campaign which will ensure that every family we support in our refuge provision has a Christmas Dinner. Safe in Sussex provides a range of services for people who are experiencing domestic abuse, we have refuge provisions which are a place of safety and healing, community education and support groups, and one-to-one support.  We could not deliver our services without the generosity of our community, so thank you to everyone who donated, and a big thank you to Nicky for organising.  Christmas can be a very difficult time for the families in our refuges and the Turkey appeal enables them to have a lovely dinner and they really do appreciate the kindness of strangers.

Keep an eye on the charities and see how you can support them in 2024 ?

Safe in Sussex Safe in Sussex on Facebook

Worthing Soup Kitchen on Facebook

You can still donate until Sunday night at midnight.

Thank you Turkey supporters

Over and Out from this year’s Turkey Campaign

ps My Turkey hat goes back in the cupboard until next year!!

Check back every Saturday morning at 8am for your weekly dose of adventure in PinkNickysBlog