KMF Group raise over £70,000 for Dougie Mac

KMF Group set themselves a target to raise over £50,000 to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of both KMF and Dougie Mac. The money raised for the charity will help to support the unbelievable care the hospice gives to adults and children with life-limiting illnesses in Stoke-On-Trent, North Staffordshire, and the surrounding areas.

KMF have supported Dougie Mac for many years through different fundraising challenges with two Arctic Treks surviving incredibly difficult conditions, and epic challenges such as Tower to Tower 1 rowing from London to Paris and Tower to Tower 2 cycling 150 miles from Paris to Le Havre, rowing from Le Havre to Brighton and then walking 60 miles from Brighton to London and the “Chemin de la Liberté” – Freedom Trail a self-supported trip across the Pyrenees following in the footsteps of allied WW2 escapees from France to Spain. KMF Director Terry Stanway has also previously run the London Marathon supporting the hospice.

The fundraising efforts began in April 2022 with the ‘Walk of Hope.’ Which was a huge 100km walk along the Thames Path finishing in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. Completing the challenge in under 24 hours, included other local businesses such as Beswicks, Tedaisy, Sabit, HSBC and Wise Living. Along with KMF Managing Director Gareth Higgins they raised a combined total of £25,000. The team at KMF have also designed and produced 400 Dougie Mac Everlasting Flowers which have become a huge success as a memorial gift and are sold online and in the local Dougie Mac shops.  Other staff members participated in the Dougie Mac Bike Ride 2022 where KMF team members cycled the long distance of 108 miles to Llangollen and back.

Throughout the rest of 2022, KMF hosted a variety of different events such as a charity ‘Bonkers’ Bingo night with special guest appearances from Elvis and Santa who looked uncannily like Gary Metcalfe, our Special Products Team Leader. Other events have included Raffles, a Murder Mystery Evening, Christmas Tree collection and the KMF Christmas Jumper Day.

In 2023, KMF team member Matt Hobson ran the London Landmarks Half Marathon, and Production Director ran the London Marathon in just over 5 hours. A great achievement from them both raising over £13,000 towards our target. KMF have also manufactured and donated the table decorations for the 50-year anniversary Dougie Mac Ball which were designed by paper artist Suhail Shaikh.

The next challenge is on the 26^th May where three KMF team members face their fears and jump out of an aeroplane from 20,000 feet in a Tandem skydive. To end our celebration year 12 participants will be taking part in a gruelling 100km canoeing challenge hoping to canoe from Inverness to Fort William on the Great Glen Canoe trail in Scotland all within 72 hours, with the additional fundraising total to be added later.

The final sum was unveiled outside the KMF headquarters where Gareth Higgins, MBE – Managing Director of KMF presented the £70,000 to the hospice. KMF would like to thank everyone who has volunteered, taken part in our challenges, and donated to support such an amazing charity and look forward to continuing with our support for the Dougie Mac for many years to come!

Deborah Vickers, head of business and community fundraising at Dougie Mac, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled that KMF chose Dougie Mac to be their charity partner and we’re really looking forward to working with them over the next couple of years on lots of exciting initiatives. It costs more than £17million each year to be able to offer our wide range of care and support services to local people facing a life-limiting illness.

“What’s more, 75 per cent of this comes from the generosity of the local community which is why the support of the local business community is so important to us. Partnerships like this are vital in enabling us to do what we do and we’re so grateful to everyone at KMF for their support.”