A group of employees from Gressingham Foods recently took part in the Race to the King, at Goodwood Racecourse in the South Downs, to raise money for the firm’s two nominated charities.
Running or walking over 100km over the weekend, the group of 12, which included Gressingham employees and friends, raised £2,458 for Gressingham’s two nominated charities: East Anglian Air Ambulance and FIND. With the directors doubling the money raised, each charity will receive £2,543 each.
“This was a huge challenge for the team and one that took both mental and physical endurance,” said Fiona Wilson, who helped organise and took part in the event.
“Many of us have never covered that distance before and it was such a hot day so we all had to dig deep to keep on going. By the time we all finished on day one, each of us had completed an ultra-marathon!”
Ms Wilson added: “We’re already talking about taking part in something similar next year as there were a couple of people who couldn’t do it this year. It was a fantastic event.
“Our fundraising target was only £1000 so we totally smashed it and we are all delighted with how much money we’ve raised for these two very worthy charities.”
Each year, Gressingham employees choose two charities to support, and all donations are doubled by the directors.
“These two charities are very close to our heart,” said Rebecca Alderton, marketing and communications manager at Gressingham.
“We have used East Anglian Ambulance Service several times when there have been medical incidents at the factory, most noteworthy was when a staff member suffered cardiac arrest in the factory and was revived by a defibrillator and was taken to hospital by air ambulance.
“FIND is a smaller Ipswich food bank charity, we have donated turkeys to them at Christmas in the last few years and we wanted to extend and increase our support this year.”