Last weekend, (Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September), leading financial protection insurance company and CRY Corporate partner, Unum, opened the doors of its Dorking-based Head Office as part of a national Heritage weekend.
The ‘hub’ of this UK-wide company is situated in a beautiful, recently restored Jacobean building and the team welcomed visitors over the two days to experience a ‘Mile Walk’ around the stunning grounds of Milton Court, set below the North Downs.
Refreshments including sandwiches and cream teas were available, served by staff and volunteers from the local Scout Group, with all proceeds to be shared between Unum’s Regional Charity partner and CRY, its National Charity partner. CRY has personal connections to Unum with employees having tragically lost young family members or close friends to sudden cardiac death.
As part of this high-profile, local event, the team at CRY launched a new infographic, raising awareness of the frequency of young sudden cardiac death via a “Thunderclap” – a social media message amplification platform.
The campaign was widely promoted in the weeks leading up to ‘lift off’ last Sunday and generated interest from hundreds of followers wanting to show their support to the work that CRY funds and helping to spread the reach of the message to over a million people.
At 12 noon on Sunday 14th September, Thunderclap enabled the message – “Every week in the UK, around 12 young people (under the age of 35) die suddenly from a previously diagnosed heart condition” – with a link to the infographic sent out by CRY and its supporters at exactly the same time, helping create a bigger impact via the social media sites Facebook, Twitter and tumblr.
CRY also had an awareness stand at the event for the entire weekend, with CRY volunteers Nigel Bennett, Rosemary and Graeme Attridge and CRY staff Lesley Dallow, Ben Robinson and Rebecca Zouvani taking it in turns to look after the stand. It gave us an opportunity to meet Unum staff and visitors in an informal setting and in beautiful surroundings.
A well as serving teas and coffees, there were opportunities throughout the weekend to attend 45 minute guided tours of Unum’s historic building.
Alison Cox MBE, Chief Executive and Founder of CRY added: “For the past 20 years, CRY has relied on the generosity of the public – both in terms of time and money – to fund our range of specialist services, from screening and research to our network of bereavement support.”
“On behalf of CRY, I would like to say a huge “thank you” to the entire team at Unum who have supported us for several years with fantastic staff fundraising as well as the wonderful support they have given to employees who have been so tragically affected by young sudden cardiac death. By choosing us as their National Charity Partner and beneficiary for this exciting local event, they have helped to raise further awareness of CRY and our work.”
