How Helen’s passion for dance is helping save children’s lives

Dance enthusiast Helen McCormick, from Wemyss Bay in Scotland, has not only raised more than £13,000 for Save the Children, she’s also helped develop our Ulimate Danceathon. Here she explains how it all took off.

My journey with Save the Children started as a one-off fundraising effort just over three years ago.

I was leaving IBM and got my colleagues to sponsor me dancing as their leaving gift. That led to me offer my skills and project management experience to benefit Save the Children. I became an employee for six months, implementing an innovations management system for the fundraising team.

Inspired

The understanding of Save the Children – and of many of the staff – that I gained from working there, allowed me to go from strength to strength in my fundraising. While I was there I helped create and develop The Ultimate Danceathon. I felt really motivated and inspired to help this fundraising event to grow.

This year my target is to raise £10,000 through Dance and Fitness and to drive sign-up for The Ultimate Danceathon in Scotland.

I’ve met so many inspiring people, both volunteers and staff. And I’ve seen great examples of how connecting the different parts of Save the Children can really make a difference.

For instance, last year we used a Glasgow Save the Children shop as the ‘energy hub’ to promote the Dance Challenge. Volunteers and staff worked together, ran a fun event, and raised awareness and funds for both the shop and the Dance Challenge.

Teamwork

This year, I have Lynne, a dance school owner, and Gina, a gymnastics specialist, working with me to drive our Dance and Fitness events. We’re working with Anna in the London office and Dorothy, our regional fundraising manager, to maximise the potential of the events we’re holding.

We’re seeing huge benefits from this teamwork. For example, at one of our first meetings Gina told Dorothy about Gymfest and gave her a contact there. This led to Save the Children being the charity sponsored at that event – raising £1,950.

So far this year I’ve  raised £5,000. I’m so pleased that we can make such a difference with something that is so much fun.

Find out  more about what we’ve achieved on our justgiving page.

Read more about Helen’s story in this article from The Daily Record.