Staff from Keenans estate agents went the extra mile to raise money for seriously ill children after completing a 32-mile trek from Blackpool Tower to Darwen Tower.
The group of 13 from the East Lancashire-based business sky-rocketed to the top of the charity challenge leader board in the Derian House Children’s Hospice £50 Business Challenge.
Last month, the Chorley-based children’s charity handed £50 over to local businesses and challenged them to turn it into as much money as possible.
Donations for the gruelling walk saw Keenans £50 transform into a whopping £3,000.
Derian House looks after 450 seriously ill children and their families from across the North West, helping them to make precious moments to last a lifetime.
Adam Stockdale, 28, a Valuer at Keenan’s Hyndburn branch, said: “At Keenans we love to help our community which is why we jumped at the chance to get involved in Derian House’s £50 Challenge.
“We decided on the tower-to-tower walk because we wanted to really challenge ourselves, but at the time I don’t think we realised how challenging it would be!
“We are a family-run business and we all pitched in in some way. A total of 13 of us took part in the walk, a mixture of people from across the company, and others helped us along the way.
“Just seven miles in several people had got bad blisters, but we all did what we could to help each other push on, literally, even pushing one of our team members along in a trolley!
“We reached Darwen Tower just as the sun was setting and were joined by other members of the Keenans family. It was the perfect moment.”
Derian’s £50 Business Challenge will end in June when the top fundraisers will be revealed.
Ellie Smith, Community Fundraiser at Derian House, said: “It costs £5.7million to run services and just 17p in every pound we need comes from government funding, so we rely heavily on the support of our community.
“What Keenans have managed to achieve is phenomenal and we’re excited to see what our other businesses have got planned next.”
To see how Derian’s supporters are doing in the £50 Challenge, visit their JustGiving page.
If you are a business who would like to find out more about Derian House and how you can get involved, please contact the Fundraising team on 01257 271271 or email fundraising@derianhouse.co.uk
