In our previous posts (here and here) we told you about Lollipop parent Luke Zwalf and his fundraising plans to compete in IronMan Wales in September and to organise a cycling event at York College where he is the Head of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Luke’s daughter, Freya, has been a member of Lollipop since she was 4 months old, and she’s now 15! We visited the college this week to catch up with Luke while he spent the day on a static bike in the entrance hall, with colleagues joining him throughout the day.
Luke’s day started at 8.30am and he got off to a great start; by the time we arrived at 9.30 he had already clocked up 20 miles! The aim for the day was to cycle 112 miles, which is the length of an IronMan cycle course, but it was clear that he was going to exceed this target early on. He decided to keep going, no matter how many miles he had cycled, until 4pm.
Luke was joined by colleagues who had signed-up for 15 or 30 minute sessions and he had someone cycling with him throughout the whole day. Staff and students stopped by to chat and to donate, and Luke did an amazing job of keeping going when the bike was no longer a comfortable place to be!
In a previous post we told you about amazing Lollipop parent Luke Zwalf who is competing in Ironman Wales in September (previous post). The race includes a 112 miles bike race, a 2.4 mile swim in the sea and a marathon! As if that madness wasn’t enough Luke has decided to warm up with a cyclothon in the atrium of his workplace, York College.
The cyclothon will be the same 112 mile distance as in the Ironman race but on a static bike. Luke’s colleagues will be taking it in turns to compete against him on another static bike to try and finish the 112 miles faster! This sounds like a brilliant and fun idea and we can’t wait to visit the event on the day!
To sponsor Luke in his static bike race and the Ironman visit his fundraising page…
The next Lollipop Monthly Virtual Quiz is on Friday 21st May at 8pm and this month it’s going to be a little bit different!
As regular quizzers will know, our quizzes are hosted by Virtual Quiz Events who are having a bumper drive to deliver more funds to charities and fundraisers, with their ‘Magic May Fundraising’ event. All quiz events for charities/fundraisers in May will have the 1st, 2nd & 3rd place prize winnings added to the charity’s donations, meaning that instead of receiving 60% of the quiz entry sum, the charity will receive 80%. We would love it if our generous supporters could help us make this our biggest quiz ever to raise as much as possible! Spread the word to your friends and family! The entry fee is £3 and not only will you be having fun but you will be supporting Lollipop at the same time and in this current climate we need it more than ever, so THANK YOU!
Step 1 – For new players, please register to play before the quiz starts by clicking below.
Last weekend Lollipop’s Service Manager, Heidi Davies completed a 101 length swimathon for her Captain Tom 100 challenge!
Friday 30th April 2021 would have been Captain Sir Tom Moore’s 101st birthday and the one-year anniversary of the extraordinary celebrations following the conclusion of his famous 100 laps of his garden that raised millions for the NHS. Captain Tom’s family pledged to celebrate his life with an event that everyone, in the UK and around the world, could get involved in to celebrate his generosity of spirit, the hope and joy he brought to millions, and his sense of fun. This is why the Captain Tom 100 challenge was created.
As a regular swimmer before the pandemic Heidi decided to catch up on all the swimming she had missed now that pools have reopened! There are still stricter limits on pool sessions so Heidi swam her 101 lengths over a few days at Yearsley pool. It’s a 50 yard pool (approx 45 metres) so we calculate that 101 lengths totals just over 4.6km! Heidi has raised a fantastic £140.45 for Lollipop and her fundraising page will be open for a little while longer. Thank you and well done Heidi!
On 12th September Luke Zwalf will be competing in Ironman Wales. The race includes a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride followed by a marathon! Before this takes place he will kick-start his fundraising at York College in June where he will be cycling the 112 miles on a static bike in the college atrium and his colleagues will take it in turns to compete against him! All this is to raise funds and awareness for Lollipop for which we are extremely proud and grateful!
Here Luke talks about why he has chosen this challenge and to fundraise for Lollipop:
“Lollipop were one of the first charities who supported us when Freya was born profoundly deaf in 2006. As a York based charity we were able to easily attend sessions and their support through the early months and years of squealing hearing aids to the operations for cochlear implants and to Freya’s first years in a mainstream school have all been invaluable. As a now confident, resilient, fiercely determined 15 year old who makes us proud each and every day, she is almost oblivious to any impairment and without question some of that is due to Lollipop”.
We will follow Luke’s training and post updates on our website as the events get closer. To sponsor Luke in this amazing challenge you can donate to his Virgin Money Giving page https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/LukeZwalf and share this link with your friends and family. If you’d like to check out the course Luke will be swimming/cycling/running follow this link to Ironman Wales https://www.ironman.com/im-wales-course
Good luck Luke, we are all behind you!
Watch out for updates on Luke’s training and fundraising over the coming months!
Welcome to our #captaintom100 fundraising page! Here you will find all you need to know about this fundraising long weekend taking place from Friday 30th April – Monday 3rd May. If you have always wanted to fundraise for Lollipop but didn’t know where to start this is a great event to be involved in because it’s quick and easy to set up your 100 challenge and start raising money!
What is the Captain Tom 100?
Friday 30th April 2021 would have been Captain Sir Tom Moore’s 101st birthday and the one-year anniversary of the extraordinary celebrations following the conclusion of his famous 100 laps of his garden that raised an incredible £38.9 million for the NHS. Tom’s simple message of hope – “Tomorrow will be a good day” – resonated around the globe during some of the darkest days of the pandemic, bringing light and comfort to millions worldwide.
Following the outpouring of heartfelt messages since his death on 2nd February, his family pledged to celebrate his life with an event that everyone, in the UK and around the world, could get involved in to celebrate Captain Tom’s generosity of spirit, the hope and joy he brought to millions, and his sense of fun. And that event is the Captain Tom 100.
Everyone – of all ages and abilities – is invited to take on a challenge around the number 100 any time and anywhere over Captain Tom’s birthday weekend, starting on Friday 30th April through to Bank Holiday Monday 3rd May. That could be walking 100 steps or running 100 metres, scoring 100 goals, baking 100 cakes, climbing 100 stairs, hopping 100 laps of the garden, building 100 sandcastles, writing a 100-word poem, flipping 100 pancakes – anything at all, inside or outside.
It’s so simple. All you need to do is dream up your Captain Tom 100, fundraise or donate to the charity of your choice or The Captain Tom Foundation, and share your 100 on social media, using #CaptainTom100
Find out more at CaptainTom100.com
Set up your fundraising page
Simply follow the link below to quickly create your fundraising page with Virgin Money Giving. Your page will automatically be linked to Lollipop and set up with Captain Tom 100 branding and information. All you have to do is add some information on the challenge you have chosen and copy the links you will be given so you can share your fundraising page easily with family and friends. Don’t forget to share your fundraising with Lollipop too by tagging us in your social media posts using @lollipopyork and using the hashtag #captaintom100
You might have heard of declutter and donate before; it is a good way to deal with items you no longer want because you earn some money for sending your books or DVDs etc. off to find a new home instead of sending them to landfill, and you benefit a charity at the same time. Clearing out old things isalso a great way to make space for the new presents and toys children received at Christmas!
This January and February 2021 we’re asking our supporters to gather up the books/DVDs/CDs and other items they no longer want and sell them, donating the money to Lollipop via Virgin Money Giving. You can sell books/DVDs and CDs a number of ways, the easiest way is to use a website like Music Magpieor Ziffitwhere you enter the details of the items you’d like to sell, are offered a price for them and then post the items off for free to receive the money. Once you have been paid for the items you could donate the money to Lollipop via our Virgin Money Giving page.
Many of you may sell items on ebay or Facebook Marketplace already, could you #declutteranddonate for Lollipop in January and February and share your good deed on social media? Make sure you tag us @Lollipopyork so we can see your fundraising efforts!
It’s Lollipop’s Monthly Virtual Quiz on Friday 18th December at 8pm. This time, it’s Christmas themed, so we hope you’ll be there with bells on! Feeling competitive? Spread the word – you can take your friends on too! The entry fee is £3 with cash prizes to be won. Not only will you be having fun but you will be supporting Lollipop at the same time and in this current climate we need it more than ever, so THANK YOU!
Step 1 – For new players, please register to play before the quiz starts by clicking below.
If you are Christmas shopping with Amazon in the coming weeks, or taking advantage of Black Friday deals why not use AmazonSmile and select Lollipop as your chosen charity? AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon with the same products, prices and shopping features as Amazon.co.uk. The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile, Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price from your items when you select Lollipop as your charity of choice. To date, £4.6 million has been donated to charity!
It really is that simple, just visit AmazonSmile, login to your Amazon account as usual and start shopping!
The raffle is online this year and tickets are available to buy on our Virgin Money Giving page.
We have many wonderful families who sell lots of tickets for us each year and we send them a huge thank you for their support! Tickets are £1 each and are on sale until midday on Thursday 10th December.
Simply donate to the page to buy entries into the draw. For example, donate £5 to buy 5 tickets. Please put your name and contact details (phone or email) on the donation to ensure we know who to enter into the draw! We will only contact you using these details if you have won a prize.
The Lollipop Christmas elves will add your entries into the draw which will be on Saturday 12th December at 3.30pm LIVE on Zoom. Sign up to the live draw where the winners will be revealed! Communications support will be provided at the live draw, sign up using the link below which will take you to Eventbrite.
It’s very easy to buy tickets online so make sure you send the link to your friends and family! Let’s make our online live draw full of fun and festive spirit, we’re looking forward to seeing you all there!
Lollipop is primarily funded through The National Lottery Community Fund. We are also funded by BBC Children In Need with further support from many local and national organisations.
