A record-breaking 18 teams saddled up for the Prosperity Day Peloton and helped raise over £22,000 for two local charities.
The big fundraiser involves corporate teams racing ‘head to head to head’, tackling a simulated tough stage of the Tour de France on state-of-the-art turbo trainers in an especially erected hi-tech marquee set up in Broad Street.
This year LGL Trustees Ltd took on Brooks MacDonald and Rossborough; Oak Group (Jersey) Ltd faced Ogier and Bedell Cristin; Santander battled it out against Barclaysand KPMG; Mitchell Building Contractors were up against Garenne Construction Group and the Co-op; Beresford Street Kitchen pedalled againast Sure and Prosperity 24/7 and a team from Gallery Magazine took on two teams from Ports of Jersey.
As all the teams discovered, success is not judged by cycling prowess alone as fundraising is just as important as pedal power and this year, after a tense virtual velodrome final between Ogier, Sure and Gallery, it was Sure who made it onto the podium to be crowned Prosperity Day champions 2019.
This year a total of £22,920.00 was shared equally between Jersey Cancer Relief and Beresford Street Kitchen.
Commenting on how the funds raised would be used, Georgie Dodd, Beresford Street Kitchen’s Fundraising Manager said, “Beresford Street kitchen provides training and employment for people with learning disabilities and autism.
“At present we employ 45 crew members but have at another 38 on our waiting list who we are desperate to provide employment to. Our operating costs are considerably high due to the specialist training we offer and therefore we need to raise a minimum of £250,000 a year.
“This amazing amount of money raised for us by Prosperity will enable us to keep providing the current level of training opportunities as well as being able to provide more opportunities to those on our waiting list.
“We are so grateful to Prosperity for choosing us as one of their charities alongside Jersey Cancer Relief and thank them so much for all their support.”
Anne Pryke, Chair of Jersey Cancer Relief, said, “We would also like to say a very big thank you to Prosperity 24/7 for choosing us to benefit from Prosperity Day. It was a fantastic event, helping to raise awareness of the work that we do and the team at Jersey Cancer Relief really enjoyed being a part of it.
“We are a local charity that has been offering financial assistance for over 50 years to cancer patients who are finding it difficult to cope financially because of their illness. The money raised by Prosperity Day will help pay doctor’s bills, heating bills, provide medical equipment and with the cost of travelling to mainland hospitals.”
In the last five years, Prosperity Day has raised almost £100,000 which has been distributed to a variety of charities across the Channel Islands.
Chris Clark, CEO at Prosperity 24/7, said, “We were delighted to see so many teams competing in this year’s Prosperity Day and really getting involved in the fundraising. There were cake sales, in-house spinathons and even some leg shaving going on in the run-up to the big day and they’ve all done a great job helping us raise this fantastic amount for these two brilliant charities.”
The team at Prosperity 24/7 is now gearing up for Prosperity Day 2020 which is set for 19th June 2020.
