Charlene Shams, General Manager of the Harborne Stores in Birmingham, was recognised with an award from her employer, Stonegate Pub Company, for raising an incredible £7,931 for Parkinson’s UK.
The charity was chosen by one of the Area Managers whose father suffers from the progressive illness. Stonegate challenged itself to raise a company-wide total of £60,000 to put towards the fight against Parkinson’s disease, setting each pub a minimum target of £500.
After returning to her job as General Manager of the Harborne Stores pub following maternity leave, Charlene threw herself into raising the funds and surpassed the target of £500 the first weekend she started fundraising.
She said: “After that I decided to just keep going with it and I have set myself a new target of at least £10k. We are not far off that now and we will keep fundraising until we reach it.”
Charlene has come up with an endless list of imaginative ways to reach her ambitious target; from running ‘Guess the lottery bonus ball’ and ‘Guess the number of jelly beans’ games, to football cards, raffles and quiz nights. Her efforts and dedication impressed her bosses so much, that they asked her to travel to some of the group’s other pubs and share her ideas and enthusiasm with her colleagues.
Alongside fundraising for Parkinson’s UK, Charlene has raised £500 for Cancer Research and £100 from a raffle for the local St Mary’s Hospice.