So we’ve been happily telling everyone how much we’re enjoying lockdown. Pizzas and camping in the garden, no commute to work, exploring the woods and picking wild garlic, listening to woodpeckers whilst studying wild orchids, and a whole heap of other reasons why our life is better right now than under ‘normal’ conditions.
That doesn’t escape from the fact that there’s a whole heap of misery and pain out there for some people, but it’s fair to say that we feel a bit helpless right now. We’ve offered up our van or bike and Andy as a driver to help distribute meals / food packages / medicines via local Cotswold groups, but this hasn’t been needed. So other than helping out a few people with yeast and flour (of which we have lots), we’ve not really been able to do much other than stick to the rules, and try and generate some content to keep people interested. But our role so far has been limited.
But we’re in the very lucky minority. It’s 99.9% certain that McConks will survive this episode, plus Andy’s salary from his water and environment consultancy work keep us pretty comfortable. We’re not really stressed by massive monthly outgoings (we haven’t got a massive mortgage or many monthly subscriptions), so we know we’re lucky right now.
In contrast to us, many people have lost loved ones and are suffering. Lots of others have their loved ones working long days and nights at risk of catching this horrible virus. And lots of people have significant financial and job worries. So it doesn’t feel to us like we’re doing enough right now to support the wider community.
We’ve been thinking about what we can do to raise some money for charities who are struggling to raise money right now. And we’ve come up with the following ideas. If you’re feeling unable to help, like we are, then please contribute!
We’re going to be raffling off one of our SUPerlight SUPer strong inflatable SUPs. We’re going to be selling tickets via the webshop, and we’ll be raffling one of our Go Simple 10’6 all round beginner inflatable paddleboards, plus some smaller prizes. We’re also hoping to be able to add some experiences from our instructor and business partners and friends, but nothing is confirmed yet.
We’re not launching this just yet. There are a few other brands doing charitable activities (check out Fatstick’s / Sandbar SUPs charity auction, and the giveaway on the East of England Paddlesports page), and some brands doing marketing giveaways (not for charity sadly, which seems like a missed opportunity!), so we won’t be launching straight away to avoid competing with them. But we are intending to go live within the next couple of weeks. We haven’t yet decided on the charity/ies, so if you’ve got any to recommend, please let us know in the comments!
We’re going to be designing a fairtrade eco SUPisolation t-shirt and hoodie series, and all profits from that will go to charity.
p.s. If anyone wants to donate their drawing/design skills to the cause, we’d love to hear from you! It goes without saying you’ll get namechecked and a free t-shirt!
We’re going to be donating 2.5% of all sales revenue between 01 April 2020 and the end of this current stage of lockdown. We’ve set no maximum limit, but we have set a floor limit of £200. We’ve already donated £50 to Stacey Smithson Grey’s #lockdown100 challenge, and £50 to our local Trusell Trust foodbank. And we will donate the remaining £100 split evenly between a mental health charity and a charity supporting key workers. If you want to nominate a charity, please do so in the comments below!
We’ve been beavering away for over a week now on a SUPer paddleboarding quiz. At over fifty multiple choice questions, it is the absolute quiz of quizzes covering all things paddleboarding. We’re not entirely sure when we’ll finish it, but when we do, there will be prizes for the top 3 on the leaderboard, and we will ask for a small donation to the RNLI for every entry.
Please comment below if you want to nominate a charity.
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