Using my skills to help rebuild our local group

I was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in 2013. As a lot of people do, I felt miserable and depressed. But the biggest blow was being told I wouldn’t be able to work anymore. I worked in a managerial role for Tesco and spent a lot of my time driving across the country, managing 500-600 people.

Read more about MS and mental health

I spent three years trying various medications, which didn't do anything for me. But now I'm on a settled regime of night tablets that seem to work. I saw a speech and language therapist. I saw a psychologist. I saw everybody. And then in 2016, I heard about my local MS group, and I went along.

The group’s coordinating team was made up of nine people at the time. This dropped down to four people after the Group Coordinator (known as the Chair at the time) left. Hastings and Rother is a large area and we had around 120 group members at the time. But with only four of us on the coordinating team, we thought we’d have to close the group down.

Finding a way forward

I remember thinking about how we could keep the group going. I remembered, when handing in my notice, that my senior bosses didn’t know what MS was. I thought using my connection to them would be a good way to fundraise, as well as spread awareness of MS and our local group. I decided to ask my local Tesco manager, who I knew, if we could trial a fundraising stand in the store.

Read more about work and MS

We promoted what we were doing on social media and invited people to help us out. Lots of people volunteered their, so we allocated time slots. We made £1,200 in six hours. This told me all I needed to know - this was the way forward. I told myself “use your Tesco brain! You're still useful for something.”

So many people were amazed to see the MS Society fundraisinginside Tesco. It raised so much awareness. People were coming up to me saying they knew someone with MS. We had leaflets and MS Society information booklets ready to give out. It was a great feeling, helping people by sharing information.

Making the most of my connections

I thought it was a good idea to build on the relationship with Tesco using my contacts. So I reached out to a friend of mine at senior manager level to see if we could fundraise at other Tesco stores. He agreed to it and I’ve now helped 20 other local groups get their foot in the door.

We’re now exploring whether there’s an opportunity to partner with Tesco on a larger scale. This is being done with the help of the Corporate Partnership Team at the MS Society. That’s something I’m really excited about!

Our group continues to regularly fundraise there and it’s helped us turn the Hastings and Rother Group around. We now have over 160 members and we’re still growing. The Coordinating Team has grown to six people and that’s partly down to how we’ve raised the profile of the group.

Keeping people connected

The money we raise helps to keep people living with MS in the area connected. We host The Big Breakfast every Saturday, which we subsidise, as well as regular coffee mornings. These allow people to come together to make new friends and connect over shared experiences.

We also host an annual meal and physio and yoga sessions, among other things. We have a taxi service so we can help people get to and from appointments and socials. We have a partnership with Citizen’s Advice to help people with PIP and we offer local grants.

Read more about Disability Living Allowance and PIP

We also donate some of the money we raise to medical science, and we’ll have a vote on where it goes to.

The fundraising we’ve done means we've got a healthy bank balance now. And that’s really helped people not have to face MS alone. We've gone from a group that was going to collapse to a group that’s really strong.

Reach out to local businesses

I’d highly recommend other groups approach their local businesses to fundraise. Go into the shop and ask for someone like the ‘Community Champion’ or the person who looks after the charity side of things. Explain how long you’d be there for and how much room you need. A lot of businesses will be open to this as it helps their reputation. And it allows them to build a stronger relationship with new and existing customers.

Be sure to promote these partnerships and fundraising days on social media. It really gets people interested. We’re lucky to have someone in our group who's fantastic with computers and designs all of our graphics and posters. He creates countdowns to the events to build some awareness and engagement.

Get help with your own fundraising idea

Use your skills to make a difference

I've made lots of friends through volunteering. I'd recommend it to anyone. The first step was a bit nerve wracking, but I get such a buzz being involved and knowing I'm helping. It's great fun and you learn so much from others about MS, as we all have different symptoms and experiences.

The MS Society has lots of different volunteering roles available to suit you. Yes, some of us have MS. But we all still have invaluable skills and strengths. Let’s use them to make a difference!