Meet the fundraiser: Brooke McKenna
Howard Lake | 30 September 2017 | News
Eleven-year-old Brooke McKenna has had her fundraising efforts recognised by having a Nisa lorry named after her as part of the retailer’s 40th birthday celebrations.
She was nominated by her mother for her “amazing fundraising efforts” for local cancer support charity Team Verrico.
In just 18 months Brooke has raised over £10,000 for the charity from fundraising events including a Christmas fayre, 5k run, a Team Verrico camp out, bake sales and a sponsored walk over the Humber Bridge to name just a few, and was even named Team Verrico’s Young Fundraiser of the Year.
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Her mother Rebecca entered a competition to win the chance to give a lorry a name after seeing it on the Making a Difference Locally Facebook page in May.
She said of her daughter’s achievements: “Brooke loves fundraising and gets a real sense of enjoyment out of helping other people.
“Having met some of the people Team Verrico supports she has seen and heard first-hand the difference that the charity makes to them, and this has really encouraged her to keep going, to keep raising money to help support them.
“Brooke’s very humble about it and doesn’t ask for any recognition – she just does it to help other people, so this lorry naming will be a way of celebrating everything she’s done.”
Brooke said it felt “amazing” to have a lorry named after her and to see her name on the vehicle. Family members and the treasurer of Team Verrico attended the unveiling of the lottery outside the Nisa Local in Auckley this month.
Surprise £1,000 donation
In recognition of Brooke’s achievements, the Nisa store’s owner Manjeet Dhaliwal presented her with a Making a Difference Locally cheque for £1,000 to Team Verrico.
Team Verrico treasurer Jackie McHale accepted the cheque and said: “It’s incredible to see a youngster like Brooke work so hard to make a difference. This extremely generous donation of £1,000 will support a family fighting cancer with a second opinion and 10 counselling sessions.”
Name a Nisa Lorry
The Name a Nisa Lorry initiative was launched as part of Nisa Retail Ltd’s 40th anniversary celebrations and will see 40 lorries named after Nisa customers and their friends and family who were nominated via an online competition.
Nisa’s charity, Making a Difference Locally (MADL), has been supporting good causes since 2008 and has donated over £7 million to date. It raises funds in stores by customers purchasing selected products, which carry charitable donations. A percentage of this money then goes into a fund for the store to donate to a charity or good cause within the local community.
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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.