Charity partnership all wrapped up thanks to Love Business connections

Added by Love Business East Midlands | 16 January 2020

UPDATED: 16 January 2020

Derby charity me&dee, which supports people with life-changing illnesses and their families, is set to receive a promotional boost from van conversion specialist Bott, thanks to connections made through Love Business.

Ashby-based Bott, which specialises in van racking and vehicle graphics, has transformed me&dee’s car with an impactful design to help raise awareness of the charity and support fundraising for its ambitious 20/20 vision step-change project.

me&dee arranges memory holidays giving families a chance to make memories together when time is very precious. It was formed to create special moments and memories for children and adults who have a life-threatening, life-shortening or  terminal condition.

The charity has, for the past seven years, been arranging holidays at Mablethorpe, on the Lincolnshire coast. However, its founders have identified the need for a holiday home offering year-round access with a much larger and more comfortable space, that’s nearer to main hospitals such as Derby and Nottingham.

In order to bring this about, it has launched ‘20/20 Vision’, a campaign to raise £150,000 to enable it to purchase a new holiday lodge, in the Sherwood Hideaway on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border, having identified 18 families in just one year who have been unable to make the journey to Mablethorpe or manage care within a caravan environment.

The new holiday home will allow Midlands-based families to access a facility that’s closer to home and their local hospitals.

me&dee is going into its 14 year and has supported over 2,000 families on very personal levels.

Many of the families it has supported are potentially having a last holiday to make memories together.

Its Founder and CEO, Maria Hanson MBE, was introduced to Bott by Love Business expo organiser Quiet Storm Solutions, which has also given the charity free exhibition space at the 2020 Expo.

Maria will use the newly-branded car, and its presence at Love Business, to promote its latest cause.

Bott has also pledged to donate further services by helping to create signage at the new woodland hideaway.

Maria said: “We’re extremely grateful to both Bott and Quiet Storm for their very kind support with this initiative. The support we have had from the business community since we launched our 20/20 Vision campaign has been overwhelming and this is just another example of the generosity that our business partners have shown towards our charity.

“Having the branded car will help us to take our message to even more people and make a huge impact on them at the events we attend throughout the year, while being able to exhibit at Love Business once again will really help us to raise our profile.”     

Liz Horsey, Bott’s Marketing Manager, said: “me&dee is a fantastic local cause which does vital work to support families that are gravely affected by illness, so we are pleased to be able to donate our time, resources and expertise to help raise awareness of the charity and hopefully boost fundraising to achieve their 20/20 Vision .

“We’re proud of our East Midlands heritage and are committed to delivering social value back to the communities we live, work in and serve.”

Quiet Storm Director Phil Megson added: “We’ve supported me&dee, and other charities, for several years through Love Business and we’re delighted to have been able to get them involved with the event again this year.

“Love Business is all about bringing people together and helping them to kickstart conversations and forge new relationships, and it’s great that we’ve been able to connect me&dee with Bott for this fantastic charity initiative, which will benefit many local families by helping them to cope with the difficult circumstances they are dealing with.”    

To find out more about me&dee’s 20/20 Vision, visit www.meanddee.co.uk/our-forever-home.

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