Trying to make a difference, one citrus fruit at a time!
At the beginning of Shed One, we realised we were going to have a lot of spare citrus fruit as we use fresh zest in our gins. So, Zoe started making Gin Jelly Marmalade and we would ask for donations. We realised this would be a great way to raise money for charity, and so those donations went into our Marmalade Fund. We then started our Bottle Return scheme. People returned their empty bottles to us, and in return we added a few pence to our fund. Not only is this a fab way to raise money for charity, but also means our bottles get reused - a tick for the environment. The money from the Marmalade Fund is then donated to charities each year. Now, due to it's great success, we sell our Marmalade as one of Shed One's official products and we put £2 from each jar we sell into the Marmalade Fund. We have continued our Bottle Return scheme and for every small bottle and full sized marmalade jar you return, we'll give 10p to charity. For every large bottle, we donate 20p to charity. Continuing our vision to find a practical way to raise money for charity, part of each sale from our Face Masks and Sanitiser are also added to the fund.
Furness Homeless Support Group was launched as a Christmas Shelter in 1989. Nowadays, they offer supported accommodation to single homeless people. Their current facilities include 9 single rooms of supported accommodation, a newly re-furbished 1 bed ground floor flat, a day centre (open Monday-Friday for drop in and midday meals), a Charity Shop and they continue to run their Christmas Shelter.
Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS) is an award winning charity which has been tackling climate change for 20 years. Their vision is a zero carbon Cumbria, one in which we all have a better way of life in balance with our environment. They help communities across Cumbria to live and work more sustainably – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in ways which also improve people’s quality of life. In addition, they help Cumbrians cope with the devastating impacts of increased rainfall and flooding caused by climate change and which disproportionately affects the most vulnerable. They do all this by sharing their practical experience, knowledge and skills, and creating, supporting and influencing networks.
2022We are so pleased to tell you that one of the best gin shed highlights from 2022 was, we raised over £3,000. This was through selling our gin jelly marmalade, Ulverston Gin, donations from community group Gin Talks and a couple of awareness raising events at the Shed. Each charity has received 50% of the total and we did a £250.00 shop for FHSG for their community festive meals/presents. Cannot thank you all enough for helping us to support our community.
We also made financial/product donations to the following charities and groups:
Another Fine Fest, Ulverston
Great Ormond Street
Heron Mill
Farmers Arms (Grizedale Arts)
Vision Support, Barrow & District
St Mary’s Hospice
MacMillan
CHOC
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM)
Myton Hospice
Glasson Community Association
Croftlands Junior School
South Lakes Citizens’ Advice
Furness Refugee Support
The Roxy Cinema Collective
North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
In 2018 we donated a number of bottles of Gin, jars of Marmalade and boxes of Chocolates to various raffles.
We were also part of a very successful charity gin, food and music night fundraiser.
As for our first Mega-Gin Raffle, we raised £2,000 for the local Food Bank and St Mary’s Hospice
For 2019, we raised awareness and funds for two charities: Gorlin Syndrome Group, a rare genetic disorder that affects us on a personal level, and Ulverston Mind a mental health charity. Thank you to everyone who bought a raffle ticket. We’re so pleased to be able to tell you that we’ve raised £2189.00. That’s £1094.50 for each charity!
Thanks also to the outlets in Ulverston who sold the tickets on our behalf: Ulverston Mind, The Tinners’ Rabbit, The Olde Ulverston Tea Rooms, and TPFramework.
There are 13 prizes. Make Your Own Distilled Gin Experience for 2, Afternoon G&Tea (with gin tastings), Make Your Own Bath Tub Gin Experience for 2, a Gin Tasting Session for 4, as well as bottles of gin, jars of gin marmalade, and books to win. The four main prizes will be redeemable for 1 year, to be enjoyed at our new shed in Ulverston. The other prizes can be collected or delivered.
To give some insight into Gorlin Syndrome and the aims of the group, we talked to Margaret Costello who established the Gorlin Syndrome Group with her husband Jim (now deceased, who had the condition) and Sally Webster, who has Gorlin Syndrome and is the Chair of the group. You can view these videos on YouTube via these links: GS Features, GS Aims and an in-depth GS Chat.
You can find out more about Ulverston Mind here, which includes a short video about their work.
2021 Donations Update: Thank you so very much for buying our Gin Jelly Marmalade over the last 12 months. Part of every sale goes into our Marmalade Fund and is then donated to our charity partners: Furness Homeless Support Group & Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS).
We’ve been able to donate £1,300 to FHSG and £1,280 to CAfS (including money from a couple of fundraisers)
- As well as the above we donated monies/products to:
- Great Ormond Street Hospital
- Leave A Light On
- Cancer Care
- MacMillan
- Myton Hospice
- CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably)
- Plus various local schools, groups and hospices.
- We’ve also continued supplying our crowdfunded hand sanitiser to schools and groups.
SO MANY THANKS to you all for helping us help others.
Cheers!
