If you’ve been following our blog, you’ll know Cawleys is sending a team of four cyclists to France to raise money for two charities in the 500km marathon Extra Mile Challenge.

This year one of the charities the team will be fundraising for is CHUMS. CHUMS is a charity that provides mental health and wellbeing services to children and young people across Bedfordshire and Luton dealing with bereavement. Today, CHUMS delivers nine therapeutic services with additional support for schools, has 55 staff and eighty volunteers, supporting over 3,000 referrals per year.

Cawleys has supported CHUMS for over ten years and is thrilled to be able to fundraise for a cause that provides such important care to families in the region.

Here we talk to Sue Clarke, Head of Fundraising & Communications at CHUMS about why the money raised during the Extra Mile Challenge is so vital to the charity.

Q: Why is it so important for charities such as CHUMS to have fundraising support?  

CHUMS Charity fills the gaps in local mental health provision.  This means we can be more flexible and responsive to each individual situation.  We couldn’t provide this support without the help and involvement of our local community.

Q: How many years has Cawleys raised money for CHUMS through the Extra Mile Challenge? 

Cawleys have been supporting CHUMS since 2007 when they first put in a team for the Extra Mile Challenge. Tragically one of their team members collapsed and died on the first day of the course in the Belgian countryside. He had worked for Cawleys for 14 years.  CHUMS then supported his children and family through our Bereavement Service with both 1:1 support and at our Dell Farm residential weekend.

Q: What difference does the money raised by Cawleys make to CHUMS? 

All the money raised by Cawleys has supported our charitably funded services which help vulnerable children, young people, and their families. This has included our Bereavement Trauma Service, Non-bereavement Trauma Service, Disability Friendship Scheme, Babyloss Service, Bedfordshire Suicide Bereavement Service and Recreational Therapeutic football and music programmes.  This has made a significant difference to CHUMS since 2007 and we are immensely grateful for their ongoing support.

Q: What are the people like from Cawleys that work with CHUMS? 

We are always thrilled to hear from the team at Cawleys about their intrepid annual adventures across Europe.  This is a huge challenge, and it is a fantastic way to remember their wonderful colleague.

Q: The team will be cycling on very hilly terrain in the Auvergne region of France. Do you have any message of support to the team and for anyone thinking of sponsoring them? 

I take my hat off to all of you, as having cycled a relatively flat London to Paris, I know what a massive step up this is.  For everyone reading this, please do get behind the Cawleys team – they are doing a fantastic job of keeping awareness of CHUMS services in the limelight.  We want everyone to be aware of CHUMS’ services, not just at that critical time of loss but also as an early intervention service for wider mental health and emotional wellbeing issues.

The team will be taking on the Extra Mile Challenge from 20th - 24th September 2018 and if you’d like to donate to the team’s effort, you can via the fundraising page here <<