Staff At Law Firm’s Cambridge Office Raise £9,000

Stars is set to benefit from a £9,000 donation from Irwin Mitchell’s Cambridge office, after staff at the firm spent a year raising funds for the good cause.

Stars was voted for by staff at the office to be their Charity of the Year for 2017 as part of a nationwide initiative established by the Irwin Mitchell Charities Foundation (IMCF).

Established in 1997, IMCF is an independent registered charity set up by the firm which has donated more than £1.6 million to third sector organisations.

Following 12 months of fundraising activities, including a national campaign to raise £20,000 in a month to celebrate IMCF’s 20^th anniversary, the law firm raised a record £180,000 during 2017. In doing so, the majority of the firm’s regional offices, including Cambridge, smashed their own fundraising records in the process.

The bumper donation from Irwin Mitchell will help young people like Rachel* in Cambridgeshire facing grief and dealing with loss. Rachel was 15-years-old when her grandmother passed away from lung cancer, and her family doctor referred her to Stars, feeling she would benefit from specific bereavement counselling. Using a variety of creative techniques, Stars counsellors worked with Rachel to identify her feelings and explore the process of grief and its different stages. At her final session, Rachel released a balloon to say goodbye to her grandmother and commented how she enjoyed Stars’ counselling, saying it had been helpful to have someone to talk to.

Amongst their fundraising activities, colleagues from Irwin Mitchell’s Cambridge office took part in and held triathlons, marathons, bring and buy sales, bake sales, quizzes and raffles to raise money for the charity.

Irwin Mitchell has also provided Stars with a mobile, height-adjustable sand tray, which the charity’s counsellors will be able to use to carry out valuable and creative sand therapy work.

Anne Streather, service manager at Stars said: “We were thrilled to be Irwin Mitchell’s Charity of the Year 2017. All money raised by Irwin Mitchell will go towards supporting young people throughout the county who have suffered the loss of someone close to them.

“The £9,000 from Irwin Mitchell will allow us to provide counselling to at least 10 children and their families, possibly more, as not every child requires the same level of support.

“As of January this year, we no longer receive statutory funding and rely solely on financial support from voluntary sources.  This is challenging for a small charity but Irwin Mitchell’s £9,000 has, at a stroke, brought us much closer to raising the funds we need in 2018 and ensuring Stars can continue to provide help where it is needed most.”

Expert Opinion

“It’s an honour to be able to provide this record donation to a truly fantastic cause in our local community.

"Last year we celebrated 20 years of the IMCF and I am delighted that thanks to the creativity and generosity of Irwin Mitchell employees, we made our anniversary year a record breaking one.

“Everyone at IM is passionate about giving back to the communities we operate in and making a real difference to the lives of those supported by our Charities of the Year.

“We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved last year. Hearing how Stars is going to use the donation, and the positive impact that will have on young people throughout the county, is spurring on our staff to think of bigger and better ways to fundraise for this year’s good cause.” Neil Whiteley - Partner & Director of Legal Services - Personal Injury

*Names have been changed to protect anonymity.