London Loot is our biggest charity collection of the year. It is also one of the most tiring events of the year, but by far the most rewarding. This year is set to be the biggest of them all with 10 different Universities bringing over 100 people along. We are ready to hit the streets of central London, with collections on Wednesday 31st March and Thursday 1st April.
In the past 10 years Loot has raised a staggering £317,000 for MRF. The Megaraid has gotten itself a reputation as one of the best collections of the year, and lots of our collectors are old-hands and know the event better than I do! The University RAGs (Raise And Give Societies) who come along are quite simply fantastic.
The best way I’ve heard it described, is ‘people who have lots of time but no money, collecting from people who have lots of money but no time.’ The students and volunteer collectors who help are up and ready to go from 6am to shake a bucket for a worthy cause, don some fancy dress and a big smile, and haul heavy buckets full of loose change in at the end of the day. Lots will stay out for the evening rush hour and bring their buckets back to our count room as late as 9pm. It’s a long old day for them; they are completely voluntary, and there’s not much apart from gratitude that we can give them as thanks.
Once they have dropped off their buckets they will collapse in a heap and wait for our fantastic counting duo, Julie Wootton and Sue Gillett, to count up about £25,000 in loose change. It is usually about 11pm when the totals are ready and we can congratulate everyone for a fantastic day’s work. Some of our collectors raise nearly £2,000 in just one day!
We’ve got some great tube, main line and DLR station permits confirmed, as well as a street permit for the second day. So, if you see anyone shaking a bucket for MRF on either day, please donate, and if you have time to stop and tell them what a wonderful job they are doing, feel free! Loot is an amazing reflection on the generosity of people donating, but I can’t help but be inspired by our collectors who put so much effort in for two long days.
In keeping with tradition, Good Friday will see the midday conga across the Millennium Bridge. Last year was my first time to witness this bizarre spectacle, stopping half way for the Time Warp, and I will certainly be taking part again this year! We've got great prizes for the highest individual total collected on each of the two days, and a raffle giving our bucket-shakers the chance to win an iPod Nano.
The event has grown consistently over the years, bringing us closer and closer to the £50k mark that we are yet to reach. Who knows, this might be the year!
Photos from last year's event below.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Posted in Fundraising by Laura Coakley on 16 March 2010
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