Hilton Foundation makes it Around the World in a Day!
Howard Lake | 18 June 2009 | News
Hilton Foundation goes the distance for local charities!
Hilton hotels around the country on Sunday joined forces to collectively travel around the world for charity.
Over 70 hotels and offices in the UK and Ireland between them managed to cover 26,654 miles, comfortably passing the 24,901.55 miles needed to cross the globe. Celebrities, sportsmen and women, hotel staff and members of the public came together around the country to support children’s charities chosen by the hotels.
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Miles were covered either using cardio-vascular equipment in hotel lobbies and gyms in a competitive team contest, or by walking miles near the hotels in a fun, family challenge .
Over 2,500 participants signed up for sponsored miles and many more people took advantage of the seasonal weather to attend events. Fetes, barbeques and plenty of games and activities were held to fund-raise and entertain as part of the Hilton in the Community Foundation’s biggest ever charity initiative.
Snooker world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan added several miles to the total at Hilton East Midlands; The Glasgow Hawks Rugby team took on The Scottish Rockettes pro cheerleading dance team in the team challenge at The Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor, while Hilton Birmingham Metropole hotel covered the most miles over the day – 1,809 of them!
Hotels are still counting up the money raised but early reports suggest that at least £60,000 has been raised. With all proceeds going to children’s charities, schools and good causes around the country including DebRA, the Rainbow Trust and Teenage cancer Trust many disadvantaged young people will benefit with thousands of pounds going directly to good causes.
A team of Sky One’s Gladiators supported the event. Siren, aka Amy Guy, a former Miss Wales and an Olympic hopeful for London 2012 in the Modern pentathlon, said:
“It’s great to be part of Around the World in a Day. This is a fantastic chance for people to challenge themselves, to get active and to support young people in need around the country.”
To find out more please visit www.hilton-foundation.org.uk
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.