“I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received”

Fundraising hero Emma O’Boyle explains how she’s been raising vital funds for MS-UK

My father was diagnosed with MS when I was just a young child which is why I approached MS-UK to fundraise. It’s such a great charity.

I was due to run the London Marathon back in 2019 and trained up to 20 miles in preparation for the event. Unfortunately, the event was cancelled due to COVID. Fortunately, I was able to defer my charity space to run three years later in April 2023. During these years I was able to raise my little one and had a second child.

Sadly, my father passed away in April 2022 when my youngest was just a few weeks old. A year Iater I was able to finally run the London Marathon for MS-UK in memory of my father, which meant a lot to me. The support from the MS UK team over the years has been so lovely and I felt very welcome as part of the fundraising team.

Running the London Marathon was the most amazing experience and is unlike any other marathon I have completed. Running for such a great charity very close to my heart makes all the training worth it. I am very excited to be running the London marathon again next year for such an amazing charity.

To fundraise I held a charity quiz night at a local school hall that I hired. I advertised the event via a PDF flyer which I circulated to all friends, family, and colleagues. I sold tickets for the quiz for £8 a ticket via my enthuse page.

I also held a raffle on the night for £1 a ticket which was a great success and raised lots of extra funds. I approached local businesses over several months, from companies I had been a customer of, to local retailers, restaurants, toy shops, and so on. This was face to face, by phone call and email. I found visiting companies face to face proved very successful and I took with me an ‘a bit about me’ letter, copy of my quiz flyer and the MS charity letter of authority.

I even approached a local business who provided table linen for free which would usually cost hundreds to hire, and a ballon company set up a balloon arch at cost of the ballons only, donating their time to do this. I added extras myself such as ballons, table center pieces and even thank you cards for the tables to give it more of a personal feel.

Lastly, I contacted the local paper who mentioned my charity quiz night and even advertised the event flyer.

I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received for the charity fundraising event I held, especially from local businesses that have donated some very generous vouchers and gifts. I raised nearly £800 on the night. As well as ticket sales and donations from people unable to make the event I was able to reach my target, making all the hard work worth it.