Southwark News appeal raises £100,000 for Evelina London

Evelina London patient with a thank you card

Southwark News readers have raised an amazing £100,000 for Evelina London after four years of community fundraising.

A huge anonymous donation of £1,000 from a member of the Southwark community marked the moment that the Southwark News appeal reached six figures. The money will provide new equipment for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and the Evelina Hospital School will also receive a donation.

Here are just a few of the ways that the local community came together to raise funds for our hospital:

• Southwark News Managing Director Chris Mullany completed an amazing six events over four years, helping to raise over £20,000. One particularly gruelling challenge involved a 160-mile run across the Sahara in the Marathon des Sables. The toughest footrace on earth took place over seven days and Chris faced temperatures above 48 degrees Celsius, all whilst navigating sand dunes and desert mountains.
• Six brave men bared all by performing the ‘Full Monty’ in from of 150 people at a pub on Old Kent Road. The group from Bermondsey raised £2,500 in total.
• Staff, readers and a local councillor came together to climb three of the UK’s highest mountains as part of the Three Peaks Challenge.

Hundreds more locals in the community and Southwark News staff joined in the effort and, thanks to them, we’ll now be able to buy two new ventilators for premature babies as well as an infant warming system which provides heat for babies that are too sick to maintain their own temperature. We’ll also be getting a new intensive care cot that mimics the womb and the Evelina Hospital School will be able to hire a professional storyteller who will work with children to build their speaking and communications skills.

Marian Ridley, Director of Evelina London said: “Thank you to Chris and the whole team at Southwark News for dedicating so much time and effort to fundraising for Evelina London. They made an incredible commitment, took on some difficult challenges to raise money for us, and their efforts will have a big impact.

“Babies in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit need some of the highest levels of support so it’s great news that we’ll be able to buy more specialist equipment to treat more. The number of children who benefit from the Evelina Hospital School grows every year and this donation will help the school support the development of communication skills.”

Chris Mullany, Southwark News Managing Director, said: “It’s been fantastic and humbling to see people coming together to support their local children’s hospital, and to help us hit our target.

“The more that we as a company have learnt about Evelina London and what it does, the more we’ve been struck by just how important their work is.

“Our appeal has come to an end, but we hope that readers and local people will continue to support Evelina London in whatever way they can. Please do get in touch with the paper if you want us to publicise your fundraising event and please keep supporting Evelina London.”

To find out how you can get involved in fundraising for Evelina London, visit Support Evelina.