Last year was an ordeal for everyone, but charities, local businesses and community organisations were hit hardest by the pandemic. Charities relied more than ever on the kindness of strangers to donate and keep them going, while small local businesses had to pivot to accommodate government restrictions to protect the NHS and keep everyone safe.
We partner with a range of charities and businesses at our Titan Storage branches across the country, so we knew first-hand what they were going through and wanted to help.
Our Christmas campaign
That’s why from Black Friday 2020 to December 18th 2020, we asked our social media followers to nominate a local charity to receive a £500 donation just in time for Christmas. All our followers had to do was tag the charity on our pinned Facebook post, with an explanation of why they deserve the £500 Christmas gift.
In return, we would gift the winning nominator a £50 gift voucher for a local, independent business. At Titan, we believe in the ethos of #ShopSmall and #SupportLocal, which is why this campaign combined the best of both worlds and two areas very close to our hearts.
Immediately we were blown away by the community response to our campaign – over 130 nominations came pouring in for charities across our branch locations in Bracknell, Braintree, Leamington Spa, Littlehampton, Poole, Solihull and Woking.
Nominations included:
- Wokingham & Bracknell Forest Cancer Support Network in Bracknell
- Happy Hill Essex CIC in Braintree
- Helping Hands Community Project in Leamington Spa
- Turning Tides: Ending Local Homelessness in Littlehampton
- Safe Haven Animal Rescue
- Helping Harry Help Others Cancer Charity in Solihull
- Hope for Food in Poole
- The Lighthouse in Woking
Safe Haven Animal Rescue
The lucky winner was Safe Haven Animal Rescue. They told us all about what they do for local animals in need, and we were blown away.
“My mum and I started Safe Haven Animal Rescue in 2017, and to this date we run the rescue out of our home address in Welling and our stable. I can remember rescuing animals all my life; we would hear and see animals in desperate need all the time, which was heartbreaking. That’s why we decided to do something about it; we created Safe Haven Animal Rescue to help every animal that needs us, and if we can, we also try to help people who are in tricky circumstances that can no longer cope.
My favourite story from running the animal rescue is a very difficult one, as every animal we save will always touch my heart. However, one of my most touching has to be when we rescued a poor horse called Grace. She had lived a very difficult life being used for show jumping and dressage. Once she became poorly, she was handed over to us… we made sure her last few months were happy and pain free.
Our work is entirely dependent on the generosity of the public. We couldn’t run Safe Haven from our own pockets; we all work full time, but it’s still not enough to help every animal that comes our way. We want everyone to know that every donation we receive helps to safe an animal’s life – and who wouldn’t want to help make that happen?
The £500 Christmas Charity gift that has generously been donated by Titan Storage has gone partially on animal feed, with the other half toward ongoing vet bills that had built up from rescuing over 300 animals in 2020. I absolutely loved this campaign as it had such a positive and powerful effect on the community and the charity; I couldn’t put it into words how amazed we were by the support we received from all the nominations.
We believe support can come in all shapes and sizes. We have supporters who usually help us hands on, but this hasn’t been possible for a while due to COVID-19. A single like and share of our page can help spread the word, and we are always massively grateful for donations of all kinds. This could be standing orders, adoption schemes, or by ordering items directly from our Amazon wishlist. Like I mentioned earlier, we rely entirely upon public donations so every penny and gesture really counts.”
Elise Bradley
Once our random generator selected Safe Haven Animal Rescue, we put all those who nominated the charity into another lucky dip. We were thrilled that it picked Elise Bradley, who runs Safe Haven Animal Rescue. She told us more about the local business she chose to purchase her £50 voucher from:
“I chose to spend my £50 voucher at one of Safe Haven’s regular supporters’ candle business, Darceys Delightful Aromas With Lindsey. The lady was the one who originally put our name forward for the amazing £500 charity gift, and I could never stress how grateful for that we are.
I think it’s really important we support small businesses, especially now. Everyone has to help each other. It’s hard to say which is my favourite independent business as most have had to shut down due to COVID-19. However, we have a gardening company called Miller’s Maintenance which are amazing and help us out loads, and Boilers R Us have always been amazing too!
When I found out that I’d won not only the Christmas charity gift, but the £50 local business voucher too, I literally run to my mum screaming with so much excitement! It’s that sort of feeling you cannot put into words.
I think the Titan Storage Christmas Charity campaign was a truly amazing and great way to bring the community together, and we are all so grateful for everything you have done to help our rescue and my chosen local business.”
Follow Safe Haven Animal Rescue on Facebook, here.
Support Safe Haven Animal Rescue by purchasing from their Amazon wishlist, here.
