Royal Association for Deaf people’s Royal Deaf Week 2018
Our charity partner throughout 2018 has been the Royal Association for Deaf People (RAD). Established in 1841, RAD works to ensure that Deaf people can access services in British Sign Language (BSL), no matter their age or background. They assist members of the Deaf community in a number of areas, from independent living and finding a job, to providing Deaf awareness training and working with families with a Deaf child. RAD’s vision is to “create a better, more accessible future” for Deaf people and, in order to achieve this, they rely on fundraising efforts and donations.
We partnered with RAD at the beginning of this year and will continue the partnership for the duration of 2019, holding a number of events within our company to raise money for them. We’ve hosted a bake sale, a Grand National Sweepstake, and a Halloween dress-up day, as well having collection pots dotted round the office to collect people’s loose change. Royal Deaf Week runs from 24th November until 2nd December, so we leapt at the chance to do something that would not only raise money, but get our colleagues actively involved in making donations. Of course, this had to involve food, as this is the way to most people’s hearts. We launched a tuck shop with an extensive selection of crisps and chocolate bars, something we knew was bound to get our snack-loving colleagues reaching for their wallets. All proceeds from the tuck shop go to RAD to support the wonderful work they do.
Throughout Royal Deaf Week, we’ve managed to raise £26.61 at our tuck shop but we’ve still got quite a bit of stock left (we may have over-bought!), so that’s sure to disappear in the weeks leading up to Christmas. We’re also celebrating National Christmas Jumper Day on 14th December with a compulsory dress code of wacky, colourful, festive garments – the weirder the better! Our colleagues will bring in £1 for RAD to participate, and there’s sure to be some Christmassy snacks for sale too, with all proceeds going to charity. Failure to get involved will result in a £2 penalty which will go into the RAD pot, so there’s no escaping this one!
We’ve really enjoyed getting to work with RAD this year. In May, Katie and Paul came into the office to hold a session on Deaf awareness and to let all our colleagues know exactly what any fundraising efforts would go towards. We took part in an interactive quiz and some challenge activities like lip-reading and British Sign Language. It was a really fun couple of hours, increasing our Deaf awareness and seeing real life examples of the positive impact RAD has on people’s lives. Take a look at this video to see the RAD team in action. We’re looking forward to continuing our work with RAD throughout 2019, strengthening our relationship with them, and raising lots more money for an amazing cause!
