Fundraising for our corporate Charity partner, Maggie’s Centres, got a shot in the arm last weekend.
Lee, our store maintenance manager, raised over £1,500 for Maggie’s Centres. Of course – he did his fundraiser in a style all his own. Lee organised a 24hr Darts Marathon in his local pub, The Hooton Arms in Eastham Village on the Wirral.
Together with his friend Bruce, the pair kicked off the mammoth attempt at 7pm on Thursday 4th May with the aim of raising as much as they could for Maggie’s and MacMillan Cancer Support.
The pair weren’t on their own – throughout the day locals, friends and Kangaroo colleagues popped in to see how they were doing. Many brought food and of course a few pints were bought too. Some even challenged them to a game of darts as well!
Lee said; “It was a great event and although there were spells when I really did wonder why I was doing it – I was kept on my feet by the very many people that came by to wish us well. It was such a boost to see people when they came in – 24hours never felt so long.
“The Hooton Arms and their customers were amazing and really looked after us – with drinks and plenty of pub grub as well as a few games of darts too. Everyone was so generous. Check out their Facebook page www.facebook.com/thehooteastham.”
And, in order to support the fundraising effort a little more – there was a charity raffle too organised by Kangaroo’s Operations Manager, Steph. There was a wide range of prizes on offer from chocolates and celebratory drinks to meal vouchers and experience tickets – and it’s a big thank you to all those that supported the cause:
Together Lee and Bruce raised nearly £3000 for the two charities. And, this coming weekend, there will be a further raffle at The Hooton Arms which will top up the funds still further. The two charities are very close to the hearts of both Lee and Bruce with friends and work colleagues both benefitting from the services of the charities.
The Kangaroo team has more fundraising events planned for the year, many of which will benefit Maggie’s Centres. Next month members of head office will be taking part in Edinburgh’s Race For Life and back on the Wirral, the team will be doing The Coastal Walk.
For the sixth year running, St Barnabas Church, Bromborough Village, is providing food & gift hampers to local families – and even their pets.
The project which began by helping eight families from one local school, has grown each year and now plans to help around 60 families from across the parish area. Donations of gifts for all members of the family are welcomed at Kangaroo Self Storage, Bromborough and directly to the Church until 16th December.
When the Parish Rector, Rev Jenny Gillies got in touch looking for storage, Sarah, our store manager was keen to help.
Rev Gillies said; “We provide food for a fortnight over Christmas, together with gifts for each member of the family – chocolates, Christmas puddings, crackers and we even try to include family pets too!
“We were really stuck for space to store all the food and presents this year. But thanks to the team at Kangaroo Self Storage on Candy Park we now have free storage and a space to make up the hampers ready to distribute.
“We distribute these hampers via Woodslee Primary School and Mendel Primary School, both located in Bromborough, to try and bring joy and love to families who deserve to be happy.
“We are lucky that we have received grants and donations from individuals and businesses. We are fortunate that through this, we try to give to these families everything that we have on our table during the Christmas holidays. Volunteers will be packing the hampers 14 – 16 December and distributing them on 16 December in time for Christmas.”
Sarah and the team have found St Barnabas a 400sq ft storage space to securely store the hampers and donations before the volunteers come to package them up. Sarah said, “We’re very happy to support St Barnabas and we’ll be getting in on the action next week to help pack up too. We’re delighted that Rev Jenny Gillies gave us a call.”
There is still time to join in and support this initiative run by St Barnabas Church – the team are looking for family gifts – toiletry and beauty gift sets, socks for adults and children, toys, books or games etc. Contributions can be left at St. Barnabas Church, Church Sq, Bromborough Village and at the reception of Kangaroo Self Storage, New Chester Road.
The storage centre is open 7 days a week:
Mon-Fri: 8am to 6pm
Sat: 9am to 5pm
Sun: 10am to 2pm
Meet Helen,
Helen Prior is our Group Operations Manager here at Kangaroo Self Storage and she has been with us since April 2010. She started as a part-time Store Assistant in the Bromborough store during her university years whilst she was studying for her History degree and then her Master’s in Museum Studies. However, she caught the ‘self-storage’ bug and never left. What was always meant to be a part-time job became a full-time career. Helen has worked her way up the business in a range of Operational roles under the Smart Storage brand. When the company merged with Kangaroo Self Storage in March 2018 she was promoted to her current role. She has worked in all the North West stores over the years and knows the stores better than anyone! Helen is married to Dan and they have 2 year old Rory.
On top of her day job at Kangaroo, Helen is leading the fundraising charge for the charity Maggie’s. We are all raising money for the local centre in Wirral.
Maggie’s is a charity that provides free support and information to anyone in the UK that has been affected by cancer in their lives, either themselves or people close to them. Maggie’s operate online and in centres across the UK, they have ‘support specialists, Psychologists and Benefits Advisors to help if you or someone you care about has cancer’.
So far Helen has taken part in a walk-up Snowdon in Wales with her husband Dan, and his practice team at Dant-Y-Coed Dental Practice. They raised a huge £2780, completely outstripping their 1K target and they are not stopping there!
Coming up on the 3rd of July, we’re taking part in the Chester Raft Race to raise more money for Maggie’s. Our maintenance team, led by Lee, is overseeing the raft build and we cannot wait to see what he comes up with.
Why Maggie’s?
Why are we raising funds for Maggie’s? Well, aside from the fact that they’re an amazing charity that do outstanding work, Helen has a more personal reason.
In December of 2021, after suffering from severe abdominal pain, Helen took herself to A&E. After a whirlwind of CT scans and medications, an unidentified mass in her abdomen was discovered. Helen of course consented to any surgery necessary to make her better and get her back on her feet working, spending time with her young family and their little kitten!
Unfortunately, surgery uncovered a more complicated situation than expected by Helen and the doctors. Helen had a tumour from her appendix across to her uterus. It is a rare form of mucinous cancer that secretes a cancerous substance into the abdomen cavity. After removing Helen’s tumour, uterus and appendix, the doctors were initially hopeful that although rare, the specialist oncologists would be able to remove the remaining cancer.
Heartbreakingly, on the 14th of February (Valentine’s Day) 2022, Helen was given the news that her cancer was too far advanced for treatment to have a long-lasting effect. Due to the rarity of Helen’s cancer, the oncology team cannot predict how it will respond to chemotherapy and therefore Helen’s prognosis is unclear. It is terminal and she could have a year; or she could have six years.
However, Helen has just finished her first round of chemotherapy and CT scans delivered some good news, her cancer has responded well to treatment and has begun to shrink – something no-one was expecting. Helen said; “I’m now starting another 12 week round of chemotherapy with a more aggressive dose to see if we can get even more shrinkage. The hope being that more shrinkage = more time. The next round might make me more poorly as it’s a higher dose, but hopefully it will be worth it!”
Helen has taken advantage of the support that Maggie’s offers. She first attended her local Maggie’s centre in Wirral after her initial diagnosis and originally began attending just for the relaxation classes as during her initial hospital stays, Helen suffered from some panic attacks and wanted to be able to control her emotions better, particularly because COVID meant most of her appointments had to be conducted alone. Maggie’s relaxation classes ‘have become a great tool to help me remain calm in my everyday life,’ says Helen.
Helen also speaks about how the Maggie’s classes have introduced her to a ‘wonderful group of people who are either living with, receiving treatment for or recovering from cancer. Everyone has their own experience, and they vary wildly and having a safe space to sit and talk with them after classes with a brew and a biscuit has helped me to feel less alone.’
Maggie’s Wirral has already helped Helen in many ways, and she wants to return the favour and we as friends and colleagues want to help in any way we can – so we’ll be supporting the Wirral centre as our company charity. We invite you to join the fundraising efforts we’ll be organising throughout the coming months and years. And, of course – you can take part too! The Chester Raft Race is our first fundraiser.
If you would like to come and support us at the Chester Raft Race, then please do. Everybody is welcome, bring your friends and family too!
The Chester Raft Race will be held on Sunday July 3rd, 2022, at 11am, on the River Dee in Chester – The Groves, Chester, CH3. The theme is 100 years of British Television. We are going for a Father Ted theme and our raft will be named Holy Cow! Follow us on our social platforms for more information and developments.
Of course, any donations are hugely appreciated so that we can help Helen knock this fundraising out the park!
We’ve supported charities within the Kangaroo Self Storage group with up to £3,777 in donations and discounted storage throughout 2020. To ensure that our charities can provide support across the area, we’re also delighted to offer one of our vans to help with any logistical needs.
At each of our stores across the country, our staff maintain a strong relationship with the charities we support. By keeping in regular communication, we are always on the lookout for more ways to help and support our charities throughout the year.
Across our locations, we work with a wide range of charities and take great pride in doing everything we can to support each one of them.
We’re currently working with The Hygiene Bank, a charity utilising our self-storage in Edinburgh to store a wide range of hygiene products. The charity plays a vital role in providing personal hygiene products to those in need in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. By collecting new and unused donated toiletries through their public drop-off points, the charity gathers up a substantial number of items that can be then distributed to local food banks, women’s refuges and homeless centres & charities. Our Edinburgh store off the Calder Road is one drop off point.
We spoke to Project Coordinator at The Hygiene Bank Edinburgh, Polly, who said: “I set up the Edinburgh project a year ago and I was storing all of the donations in my student flat. As the project grew, this was no longer possible, and we were lucky enough to secure a grant which allowed us to fund storage.
“Fraser and Louise at Kangaroo Self Storage have been an amazing help with getting sorted and always go out of their way to give us a hand – so we are really grateful to Kangaroo Self Storage!”
At Kangaroo Self Storage in Glasgow, we provide support to one of our customers, Laura Cannon, who has played a pivotal role in co-ordinating a Toy Appeal for One Parent Families Scotland (Glasgow). We were delighted to be one of the drop off points for this charity, whilst providing discounted storage for all the toys collected by Laura.
Along with this, at our self-storage facility in Dundee, we also provide a drop-off point for the Shoe Box Appeal for Operation Christmas Child. Each November during the Appeal’s National Collection Week, we act as a drop off point for shoe boxes packed with gifts for young people. We carefully store the boxes ready for uplift and play a part in helping the Appeal is especially important to everyone in the Dundee team.
Kangaroo Self Storage is committed to providing support to our local communities and charities in any way we can. This support has been especially significant with the challenges presented to charities across the UK by COVID-19, so we will continue to do our very best to provide as much support as possible to those most in need.
This Sunday, 15th September, members of our team will become The Smart Kangas for one last time this year. Their aim? To tackle the Edinburgh Kiltwalk, and complete three of the four 2019 kiltwalks.
The team is taking part in ‘The Mighty Stride’ – the longest of three walks that make up #KiltwalkEdinburgh. Their 24 mile walk starts at 9:30am from Holyrood Park and proceeds through Newcraighall onto Fisherrow Links and then hugs the coast along Edinburgh’s Promenade, before turning inland to head towards the finish at BT Murrayfield.
Walking boots are well and truly broken in, kilts have been prepared, blister plasters are at the ready. The team has been training hard for this challenging walk and are determined to make it round in under 8 hours. But we need your support.
The aim of this walk is to raise funds for The Strathcarron Hospice, a charity providing end-of-life care for those with a life limiting illness or condition and support to their carers and family. They need to raise over £12,900 every day to keep their services running – please help us to help them.
Last year, Kangaroo Self Storage raised over £300 walking the Edinburgh Kiltwalk. This year the team’s goal is to raise more than £500 – but we cannot do it without you. You can donate here to The Smart Kangas – every penny you give will go to Strathcarron and what’s more – thanks to the Hunter Foundation, your donation will be topped up by 40%. Please support us to raise funds for the hospice.
Chris and Fraser will be joined by Nicky and Guy on this ‘last leg’. We wish them luck!
Scenes from Dundee – the start and on the Tay Bridge
The Kilt Walk Progress
Fraser said; “Completing the Dundee and Aberdeen Kiltwalks have been extremely rewarding, especially knowing they are for such an important cause. Training has not been easy but we have enjoyed the challenge. Our team had a brilliant time walking together and it was lovely to have walkers from our sister company Smart Storage join us. When we crossed the finishing line at Dundee where our friends and family were waiting to meet us I felt very proud – if not desperate to collapse into bed as well!”
“We are more ready than ever for the final (very long) leg of our Kiltwalk journey – Edinburgh.”
At the finish line in Dundee, Fraser and Chris are met with smiles from Fraser’s son, Angus.
Strathcarron Hospice
Strathcarron Hospice was chosen as our charity by the team in Edinburgh. One of their customers is a nurse with the hospice and her moving story led to the team to start fundraising.
The nurses at Strathcarron Hospice provide specialist palliative and expert end of life care for people living in the Central Belt of Scotland. They care for people with illnesses that cannot be cured including cancer, lung, heart and kidney failure and a range of non-malignant and neurological diseases.
The team at Strathcarron are active in the research and education of palliative care and help to shape the delivery of palliative care so those that need support benefit as much as possible. To find out more about the work they do visit their website The Strathcarron Hospice.
#KiltwalkEdinburgh #Hospiceheros
The hospice is a charity – and their services are free. They provide their services when and where they are needed – be that in patients’ own homes, in hospitals and care homes and in their Denny hospice, near Falkirk.
(LtoR) Chris, CEO of Kangaroo Self Storage with Michael Store Manager for Edinburgh and Fraser, Assistant Store Manager at our Edinburgh Storage Centre for Kiltwalk 2018.
This weekend our CEO, Chris and Fraser, Assistant Store Manager at our Edinburgh storage centre become The Smart Kangas. They will be taking part in KIltwalk 2019 – the second time they’ve done a Kiltwalk. Last year they took part in Edinburgh – this weekend it’s Aberdeen.
The pair will be doing The Mighty Stride, the longest of the three walks that make up #KiltwalkAberdeen. The 26 mile walk sets off from Potarch at about 9am on Sunday and the lovely route loosely follows the River Dee passing Crathes Castle, Drumoak Village, Peterculter, Cults and then into the city of Aberdeen where it finishes at Duthie Park. Chris and Fraser think they’ll take about 7 hours to complete it.
Once again, we’re raising funds for The Strathcarron Hospice, a charity that helps people with terminal illnesses to live well with their condition and make the most of the time they have. Last year Kangaroo Self Storage raised over £300 walking The Edinburgh Kiltwalk – this year we’re going not just one better, but two better. The Smart Kangas are walking the Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh Kiltwalks – DONATE here.
Chris and Fraser are our two die-hards, walking all three Kiltwalks! But, they will be joined by members of our teams from across our stores in Kangaroo Self Storage Glasgow, Kangaroo Self Storage Dundee, Kangaroo Self Storage Edinburgh and Smart Storage for #KiltwalkDundee and #KiltwalkEdinburgh late this summer.
The boys dusted down their walking boots earlier in the Spring to get the miles underfoot and this week they’ve been rummaging around in storage to find their kilts!
Chris makes it home after a practice walk. Boots abandoned!
Why Strathcarron Hospice and why the Kitwalk
Strathcarron Hospice was chosen as our charity by the team in Edinburgh as one of their nurses is a domestic storage customer.
Fraser said; “After we’d been speaking to our customer a nurse in the hospice, we had a team chat. We all agreed we wanted to do something to help – her stories really touched us. Not only did she tell us about the work she does but also how the Hospice care made things a little easier at a stage in life that’s incredibly hard – for both the ill person and for those that care for them.
“At first, we didn’t know what to do – but we did know our fundraising effort would need to be a challenge. We wanted to involve as many people in our business as possible – after-all, the more people we can get involved, the more money we can raise. The Kiltwalk is the perfect fundraising event for Kangaroo – we have self-storage centres across Scotland – with walks in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh it fits perfectly. And, whilst we raise funds we can all get a little fitter too! Last year was an amazing experience – we can’t wait for the weekend.”
Over the coming weeks and months Chris and Fraser will be joined by team members out on training walks across Scotland. We’ll update you on our progress as the team grows and fundraising activities and training sessions gather momentum.
Strathcarron Hospice
The team at Strathcarron Hospice provide specialist palliative and expert end of life care for people living in the Central Belt of Scotland. They care for people with illnesses that cannot be cured including cancer, lung, heart and kidney failure and a range of non-malignant and neurological diseases. You can donate here to The Smart Kangas – every penny you give will go to Strathcarron and what’s more – thanks to the Hunter Foundation, your donation will be topped up by 40%.
The team at Strathcarron are active in the research and education of palliative care and help to shape the delivery of palliative care so those that need support benefit as much as possible. To find out more about the work they do visit their website The Strathcarron Hospice.
The hospice is a charity – and their services are free. They provide their services when and where they are needed – be that in patients’ own homes, in hospitals and care homes and in their Denny hospice, near Falkirk. They need to raise over £12,900 every day to keep their services running – please help us to help them.
