Khushboo Malhotra
Welcome to the Fuzzmas Advent Awards, a series running every day throughout December celebrating all our favourite things from 2018. Today we’re sharing our top five favorite Charity Campaigns that made the highlights of the year.
This is the season of being thankful for what you have and giving away what you have earned from society. For many, it is difficult to decide what exactly to give. But what’s better than sharing love and happiness?Becoming someone’s sunshine and lighting up their lives, boosting someone’s hopes, and helping someone achieve their dreams is an absolute way to pay off.
As this year comes to an end, for day sixteen of our Fuzzmas Advent Awards, we reflect back on 2018 and take a look at how charities and fundraising campaigns have helped giving back to the society.
#1 Horan and Rose 2018
After a highly successful event in 2016, the ‘Horan and Rose’ charity event returned this year, hosted by Modest! Golf Director and one of the finest musician of the modern era, Niall Horan and 2013 US Open winner and Olympic Gold Medalist Justin Rose came up together and co-hosted their second fundraising dinner at Hertfordshire, attended by 350 guests. This prestigious event supports an incredible cause for Cancer Research UK Kids and Teens, a campaign that raises money for research into cancers affecting children and young people. The event, set in 2018, surpassed the incredible sum raised in 2016 and took the overall total raised from Horan and Rose activity to an incredibly huge sum of £1.5 million.
The money raised will help fund vital research projects and clinical trials which will hopefully reduce the side effects and make the treatment a little easier. This midsummer party themed dinner was attended by high profile guests and some successful names from the world of sports and entertainment. It is set to return again in 2020.
#2 Share Your Ears Campaign 2018
On November 04, this year, for the celebration of Mickey Mouse’s 90th Anniversary, The Walt Disney Company and Make-A-Wish Foundation came together and announced their 2018 #ShareYourEars campaign for raising funds. For the third year in a row, Disney is supporting Make-A-Wish Foundation to unlock and raise donations by inviting fans to share their mickey ears on social media. Disney donated US $5 for every public photo posted showing off “Mickey Mouse ears” or any creative “ears” on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #ShareYourEars to ‘Make-A-Wish’. With the contribution of hundreds of thousands of Disney fans, this year, US $3 million were raised for the cause.
Disney has helped grant more than 130,000 wishes during its 40-year partnership with Make-A-Wish, including one out of every two wishes in the United States. Disney and Make-A-Wish have a long-standing history together. Since 1980, when Disney was part of the first official wish, the company has helped Make-A-Wish fulfill experiences that not only brighten lives for a special moment, but also help kids and their families replace fear with confidence, sadness with joy, and anxiety with hope. Currently, more than 10,000 Disney wishes are granted every year, and the number continues to grow.
#3 Rays of Sunshine
Rays of Sunshine is an award-winning national children’s charity that brightens up the lives of seriously ill children in the UK (aged 3 to 18 years old) by granting wishes, granting hospital ward wishes, organising outings and large scale events. Rays of Sunshine Children’s Charity was formed in 2003 to lighten up the lives of children who are living with serious or life-limiting illnesses.There are 49,000 children and young people living in the UK with a serious or life-limiting illness.
Their vision is to make wishes come true and turn them in to happy memories. They give a child the chance to forget their illness and do something they could only dream of. They also provide families with treasured memories of happy times to look back on. Whether a child wants to be a princess or a fireman for a day, go to Disneyland, visit Santa in Lapland, own an iPad or meet their favourite pop star, Rays of Sunshine works hard to make that wish come true.
#4 Stand Up to Cancer
The 2018 Stand Up To Cancer live fundraising special brought together all the networks and the biggest stars in entertainment world, for one night of music, laughter, and inspiration. This year’s event marked an important milestone in SU2C history: 10 years of making an impact and raising funds for groundbreaking cancer research that is helping save lives. An essential part of SU2C’s mission is to leverage the entertainment industry in a way that spreads their message and engage the public.
100% of donations received from the public support Stand Up To Cancer’s collaborative cancer research programs which eliminates barriers to innovation and pushes forward big ideas and brings groundbreaking new therapies to patients in record time.
For this year, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson reunited and appeared on Stand Up to Cancer ‘Gogglebox’ Special. It is a reality show in which families and friends react to U.K. television programs from the comforts of their homes.
“It’s for a cause that’s close to our hearts,” Payne wrote in a Twitter post alongside a photo of the boys chilling in a living-room-style set together.“So please give it a watch and donate.”
Other stars appearing include actor Danny Dyer football player Peter Crouch, Micahel Bublé and James Corden.
#5 Macmillan Cancer Support
The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning held on 28th September, this year, is Macmillan’s biggest fundraising event for people suffering from cancer. People all over the UK are asked to host their own Coffee Mornings and donations on the day are made to Macmillan. Last year alone, they raised over £27 million which surpassed this year, turning it into a successful event.
The first ever Coffee Morning happened way back in 1990. It was a rather small affair with a simple idea: guests would gather over coffee and donate the cost of their cuppa to Macmillan in the process. It was so effective, they did it again the next year – only this time nationally. Since then, Coffee Morning has raised over £200 million for Macmillan.
So what are your favorite charity and fund raising events from this year and who do you support? Let us know in the comments section below or you can also tweet us @fuzzable Don’t forget to check back in with Fuzzable every day in the month of December for the Fuzzmas Advent Awards.
