Fundraising for Walk the Walk with Bingo

Read how regular MoonWalkers Genene and Linda keep the fundraising rolling in. They share how they set out to raise money for Walk the Walk and what really works for them. Their last charity bingo night raised a fabulous £379.00 to add to their growing total.

When initially thinking of fundraising ideas we thought we could do bingo, tombolas etc, so we set off walking around Kings Lynn wearing our Walk the Walk T-shirts and approached different companies and shops to see if they were able to donate prizes for bingo, tombola and raffle. The response was overwhelming and we had enough for two bingo nights including raffles and a tombola. Work colleagues, friends and family also donated unwanted presents too which added to our prize mountain!

We approached our local British Legion as we knew they held bingo nights for various charities. They were very friendly and helpful. We chose a night which was beneficial to both us and them and the rest is history. We knew we needed 20 prizes, 10 for a line and 10 for full house and tried to allocate our prizes as such, so the full house prizes were valued at a higher price value than the line prizes. So we knew what we were doing and the bingo caller would also know we had a template with each game noted and the prizes that were being played for. We then allocated about 25 items for raffle prizes, it’s always good to have a few bottles of alcohol and some chocolate for this!

At the British Legion their clientele love a game of bingo and having lost their regular bingo night, we could do one every week if we had the time to.  We are very lucky that the owner doesn't charge us for the use of the room either as we bring in extra customers that use their bar facilities.

When approaching companies we went to a local Indian restaurant to see if he was able to donate a prize and we were astounded by his reply... he doesn't donate prizes but he would help us if we helped him. His suggestion was to have a charity night at his restaurant on one of his less busy nights. We bring in custom for his business and for that he would donate 50% of the money taken on food for the evening. This has averaged out to be £200 each time we hold one. We have had 5 of these so far and he is willing to hold more for us. With the added bonus that our local Mayor has said he will attend our next one.

Here are some of the other fundraising ideas and events we have had since we started...

Sponsor a bauble or ribbon in remembrance of loved ones that battled and lost, were battling or recovered from cancer. Names were written on the ribbons, they then went on to become a fringe that decorated our bras for London and were turned into a rosette for The MoonWalk Scotland and The MoonWalk Iceland. The rosette continues to come with us on every event since.

Pink Day - tombola, food, drinks - all pink items used. Each guest brought along a baby photo and a recent photo for a guess the baby competition. Guests also paid to guess the number of pink sweets in a jar, the person closest to the actual number wins the jar.

We have also had three tombolas and bag packing events at our local supermarket, Linda’s son shaved his head and beard twice to raise money and people paid to come along to a three course meal that we had planned and cooked.

Genene and Linda