# Star Wars fans raise £250,000 for children’s charities by re-enacting favourite scenes

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/04/12/star-wars-fans-raise-250000-childrens-charities-re-enacting-favourite-scenes/
- Published: 2018-04-12T09:14:09+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Star Wars fans have raised £250,000 for Barnardo’s and Together for Short Lives
in a fundraising campaign organised by Santander.**

The campaign was part of a partnership between Santander and [Barnardo’s](https://www.barnardos.org.uk/),
which saw the bank pledge to be a “Force for Good” and raise up to £250,000 for 
the charities.

To this end, its [campaign](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/12/14/santander-becomes-force-good-childrens-charities-star-wars-competition/),
which ran in December, asked people to film or photograph themselves re-enacting
their favourite Star wars scenes and upload the results to a dedicated site. For
every Star Wars photo or clip uploaded, Santander donated £25 to each charity. More
than 5,000 entries were uploaded, meaning that the bank reached its fundraising 
target of £125,000 for each charity.
 

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 The submissions included children defeating Darth Vadar with lightsabers, chickens
dressed up as Jedis and Storm Troopers defending a goal during a game of football.

Also joining in the fun were former F1 World Champion Jenson Button, who filmed 
a clip with fan favourite droid character BB-8, and Star Wars actor and Barnardo’s
supporter Warwick Davis, who also filmed a Star Wars-themed clip to encourage people
to take part.
Fifteen winners received a Star Wars hamper prize filled with themed
goodies, while grand prize winner Simon Tilley, from Trethomas, in Caerphilly, Wales,
winning a Star Wars inspired trip to Skellig in Ireland, one of the locations featured
in _Star Wars: The Last Jedi_.

![Star Wars Storm Troopers' paper masks](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2022/
01/star-wars-storm-troopers-paper-masks.webp)

Barnardo’s Chief Executive Javed Khan said:

> “It has been fantastic to see how many people got into the spirit of the campaign
> and submitted videos and photos. They have all been brilliant. The money raised
> will help us to support thousands of vulnerable children, young people, parents
> and carers through our 1,000 vital services across the UK.”

Santander Chief Marketing Officer Keith Moor said:

> “We are absolutely thrilled to be able to donate an amazing £125,000 to each charity.
> The entries have all been brilliant – they have been so creative and we really
> hope everyone enjoyed creating them as much as we enjoyed seeing them! We know
> the money raised will go to really worthy causes and will make such a difference
> to young lives around the UK.”