ASOS NI x Cancer Fund For Children
ASOS NI started off our year partnership with Cancer Fund For Children in September 2023 after ranking highest voted local charity in our site-wide poll. In the Belfast office, we support two overall charities for the year; The ASOS Foundation (made up of multiple charities including; Centre point, Caramel Rock, OnSide and the Princes Trust) and Cancer Fund For Children, rotating fundraising on a monthly basis.
Cancer fund for children is an exceptional charity which offers an escape from the hardships faced by families dealing with Cancer, they provide necessary services and support to families during this difficult time.
We’ve arranged several activities over the year to fundraise and support our chosen charity, and this blog will highlight what we’ve achieved and organised throughout the year.
We kicked off our fundraising with a short talk from Cancer Fund For Children around what services and support they’ve provided families along with a testimonial from one of the families that benefited from their services. With this new motivation, we then kicked of our charity row. This all took place during ASOS Develops, a two day event which we are entitled to use through ASOS for our own personal development.
The Great ASOS Row
The row consisted off 13 individuals rowing the distance of 109 km which is the distance of our ASOS Belfast Office to Daisy Lodge and back. Daisy Lodge is a purpose-built therapeutic centre located in Newcastle Co. Down which Cancer Fund For Children offer for families across the island of Ireland affected by cancer.
The row itself kicked off around 8am and finished up at 5pm, rotating consecutively through each of our rowers to reach our 109km target. We divided it up into 15–45 minute time slots. Those that completed 45 minutes enjoyed a bit of competition on the distance which they could cover during that time and there were a few sore legs in the days following. A huge thanks to Custom House Offices for allowing us to utilise the gym for this event.
Santa Hats & Raffle
Around Christmas time, our charity committee got creative and designed personalised Santa hats. Individuals donated £10 to Cancer Fund For Children, we then designed and created a tailored Santa hat using their name and had them delivered to the office in time for Christmas. We also ran a small raffle for an extra fundraising boost.
The Great ASOS Bake Off
In February, we held our Great ASOS Bake Off where we had some prizes contributed by a few fantastic local businesses. On the day, everyone in the office could place their votes for first, second and third place with each place being worth 3, 2 or 1 points. To increase the odds of winning even further there where also winners for the most Aesthetic and most Creative bake.
Individuals interested in taste testing and voting for each of the baked goods then donated towards our Just Giving page. It was a dough-lightful day for everyone involved, especially those with a sweet tooth!
Bucket Collections
We then offered our volunteering time back in May, collecting donations at the entrance to Belsonic for a few hours with the high footfall traffic. Once finished, we then had time to relax and enjoy the final act. One of the many advantages of partnering with Cancer Fund For Children.
Volunteering Day
Finally, we visited Daisy Lodge in Newcastle on Monday 29th July to volunteer with the Cancer Fund For Children. We were able to help out with painting and weeding, bringing the lodge back up to peak condition. Before kicking off our tasks, we received a tour of the beautiful retreat they have created and the wonderful restful opportunities they provide to families affected by cancer, both children and parents, and also for bereaved families who have lost someone to cancer over the last 10–15 years.
We are all inspired by the facilities and services that Cancer Fund For Children provide. Unfortunately Cancer Fund For Children are limited on the number of people they can offer these to at one given time as they currently can only have 200 families on the waitlist and there are hundreds, if not sadly thousands, of families in both Northern Ireland and Ireland in need of their special support.
We would love to help Cancer Fund For Children continue to support these families by exceeding our fundraising target of £2,000 before our next financial year when our local charity renews.
If you feel like you can, please donate using the link below. It’ll be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!!
Hi, I’m Niamh McGuigan, an Engineering Manager on the Web team at ASOS. I support Web Engineers and QAs in their career growth while ensuring our technology platforms deliver high-quality solutions.
I’m also active in the NI Charity Committee and volunteer externally with Women Techmakers. Outside of work, I love planning and going on outdoor adventures — like this one from my recent trip to the Dolomites in Italy!
Feel free to connect with me on Linkedin below ⬇️
