Open Arms Malawi Appeal

To all our Customers, Suppliers and Friends,

50th Knaresborough Bed Race/Open Arms Malawi Appeal, Saturday 13th June 2015.

Firstly thank you for reading this letter and our apologies for asking you for a donation. Tomrods is entering a team into this year’s Bed Race in Knaresborough called ‘Tomrods Men of Steel’. The team is made up of Lower Sixth Form students from Ashville College, which includes my son George and they will be pushing a bed up some serious hills and will finish by crossing the freezing River Nidd. The whole team will be travelling to Malawi in July and will help to build new classrooms for the orphans.  The cost of the bed and entry into the race has already been covered and the cost of sending the students on this trip is being covered by their long suffering parents, so every penny raised will be going directly to the orphanage in Malawi.

Here are some facts for your consideration;

• Malawi has a population of 23 million, 74% live below the poverty line.

• It has the highest maternity death rate in the world and 3 million do not have access to clean water.

• 11% of the population are HIV+ and there are 1,000,000 orphans.

We are attaching a list of sponsorship opportunities as well as details of how to make a donation through the www.JUSTGIVING.COM/teamopenarms-bedrace website. Any donation however large or small will be very welcome and will make a lot of difference to the orphans of Malawi.

Sponsorship Opportunities
This is the 50th running of the bed race and we are expecting up to 30,000 spectators to attend in addition there will be coverage from the local BBC and ITN news channels, StrayFM and of course all the local papers. It might even go international? We would like to restate that 100% of all money raised will be going to Open Arms Malawi.

Bed Sponsorship
At the back of the bed there will be a board 3m high x 2m wide. A3 size adverts are £50 each or £1000 for half the board.

Tee Shirts
We require 2 sponsors, one for the front and one for the back to pay £300 each, this will produce 50 tee shirts. We can produce more if required at a much reduced rate.

Banners on the Route
We are allowed 5 banners to be placed around the track, these are 2.5m long x 1m high and will be strategically placed to get the most advertising coverage. The sponsor will need to provide the banners, we can recommend a printer if required. These banners can be re-used afterwards and can be at other sporting venues such as cricket or rugby grounds, so not just for this one occasion. Cost £100 each.

Individual Sponsorhsip Forms
This is not just a stroll in the park as we have some big hills to conquer and of course the dastardly River Nidd, renowned for being exceedingley cold especially in June. We can provide sponsorship forms for all those who can help us on an individual basis, just give us a call on +44 (0)1845 528200 and we will send you the forms.

How to donate.

By email to www.justgiving.com/teamopenarms-bedrace.

Cheques please make payable to Open Arms Malawi.

If you are interested in providing sponsorship, please give us a call on +44 (0)1845 528200 so we can make sure the sponsorship is still available.

Thank you for spending the time reading this and we hope to hear from you.

Best regards,

John Thompson

Managing Director