Coaches at Mini Athletics put on special classes for their mini athletes during its annual Charity Week, which this year had the theme of ‘Chef Week’, to raise funds.
Adding some secret ingredients to that week’s Mini Athletics sessions, the children became chefs – running, jumping and throwing their way around a make-believe kitchen. Serving up big helpings of fun, fitness and fundraising, the mini athletes took part in a number of fun and imaginative activities, devised by Mini Athletics’ founders Clare and Kirk Bowyer, while being sponsored to do so.
Ben Russell, Marketing Manager at Mini Athletics and franchisee at Mini Athletics North Birmingham, paid tribute to the children and their willing attitude to embrace Charity Week.
He said:
The biggest stars in the whole thing are the kids, and them buying into the themes. It’s about them dressing up in their chef outfits this year and taking the sponsorship forms with pride to their schools and their family members and then turning up at and having fun. There's nothing better, in my opinion, than children raising money for other children. There's something quite special about that. It's so heartwarming when you see the kids have bought into it. And then there’s the business owners, the coaches, all having fun with the kids, and the parents as well, taking photos and celebrating what their individual child has done. It's a massive team effort, from the whole Mini Athletics family. Everyone, each year, just buys into it in with energy, passion, and enthusiasm, and it's just incredible.
Since beginning its support for CCLG in 2023, Mini Athletics has raised more than £60,000 in total through its Charity Week. Ben believes the cause and work of CCLG is something that has resonated with people.
He said:
Cancer in children and young people can affect anybody at any time and that's why I think people have been so generous since we've made CCLG our chosen charity to support. The great thing about a charity like CCLG is we can see that the money we're raising goes directly to supporting other people.
More than 1000 children across 36 Mini Athletics franchises and partnering schools and nurseries took part in Chef Week, requiring a great deal of planning and organisation on behalf of all involved.
Ben said:
It's a massive, massive team effort and it really starts from the moment that one Charity Week ends. Last year we did ‘Emergency Services’ [as the theme]. As soon as that was done, we then started the next, and it’s a massive team effort from Kirk and Clare and the team at HQ working on the next Charity Week theme. There’s so much that goes into it, from designing the lesson plan and getting it drawn up, to recording demos of the plan and having Monday night briefings with all the network. Everybody has families, they're running businesses, but they all come together on a Zoom meeting on a Monday night to listen to what's going on with the plan, how we're going to raise money. It’s something we’re proud of doing. Everyone pulled together, and that just shows the power of people, and the value of having something [like Chef Week] to bring people together. We just somehow pull together, and it motivates us to do the same again next year.
Vicki Brunt, Head of Fundraising at CCLG, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to all the coaches, parents and of, course, the mini athletes, at Mini Athletics.
“We’re hugely grateful for their continued support, which will help us to continue bringing together the brightest minds to drive progress in treatment and care, and to support children and young people with cancer, and their families, with our trusted information and guidance.
“We hope they had a fantastic week of fun – they certainly cooked up something amazing.”
