In a year that has seen so many businesses go under and employees lose their jobs, operations director Louise Howard wanted to help. She decided to use her powers of persuasion to generate a community appeal to local businesses, in partnership with Salisbury Radio, to help raise funds that would be spent on Christmas toys for the vulnerable and less fortunate children of the Salisbury City area.

Her original intention was to try and raise £500 to help support perhaps 10-20 children. However…

…in just three weeks, the crowd funding page had exceeded £7k in cash donations, not to mention hundreds of toys bought by the public. In total more than £11k has been raised and the appeal has been able to bring Christmas to over 200 children who wouldn’t have received a present this year. In addition, 12 charities have been supported, ranging from debt organisations, women’s refuges to various children’s centres.

As well as featuring on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Wiltshire, Howard has also appeared on ITV’s This Morning. And one morning at 7am, before the store opened, Smyths Toy Store in Salisbury allowed the campaign the chance to do a trolley dash – spending £5k in less than two hours.

There’s still time to help ReQuire Consultancy’s campaign, so click here to help.

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