Isla dances her way to £1200 for Dame Hannahs
Thursday 08 June 2023
Our Activities and Events Coordinator, Isla McCarthy, organised a 24 hour Danceathon last week and raised an amazing £1200. Isla took on the huge challenge to raise funds for the young people that she and the charity supports. She took part throughout the challenge and was joined by friends, family, staff and young adults from Dame Hannahs over the 24 hour period.
Isla said “Here at Dame Hannahs we offer many Activities for our young adults ranging from trips out to the zoo to nice relaxing yoga sessions. As you can imagine, a lot of this had to be put on hold due to the Covid Pandemic and this had a big impact on the wellbeing of our young adults. Being able to get out and socialise with friends and family is crucial to everyone's happiness. That is why I wanted to raise funds for the Activity Pot, to provide increased opportunities for activities both on and off site. We are very fortunate to have some external providers that do an excellent job with bringing fun and joy to our young adults. We would love to keep this going and that is why I am raising funds for the Activity Pot here at Dame Hannahs!”
About the Danceathon Isla added “It’s hard finding enough words to sum up the joy, laughter and fun we all had throughout the 24 hour Danceathon. Even though it was very challenging mentally, emotionally and physically, seeing the smiles on the Young Adults’ faces was so worth it. I really appreciated the deputy managers coming in and supporting me throughout, Baukje and Beki from speech came in out of hours and bought me ice lollies and sang to me. The staff from the Mews ran in at the end to see the final performance. I know I was the main person doing the event, but if it wasn’t for everyone else, I wouldn’t have got through it without them”.
Dame Hannahs Head of Fundraising, Daniel Burke, said “It was wonderful to see a member of staff take on this challenge to raise funds for something she is so passionate about. And lovely to see her bring so many people at Dame Hannahs together including all those we support here and staff across the organisation. Everyone had a lot of fun joining in and live streaming the event”.