Record-Breaking Drinks Haul at The Agents Giving Donnington Valley Golf Day

Introduction

The Best Seat On The Course Is A Buggy

Sponsoring a charity golf day usually means a banner on a tee box and a team playing eighteen holes.

We took a slightly different route. When Agents Giving brought their charity golf day back to Donnington Valley, CRE Group sponsored the refreshment trolleys - and rather than hand the keys over and walk away, Calvin and Freddie got in and drove one round the course themselves.

It became the story of the day. Twenty-one teams, a full course, and a branded drinks buggy that never had to look far for its next customer. Not to mention the buggy breaking down at the end of the day…

The Buggy

£1,100, One Buggy, And A Lot Of Ice

The buggy was meant to be a nice touch. Cold drinks, a friendly face somewhere around the twelfth, a bit of brand visibility.

What it actually became was a rolling fundraising operation. Calvin and Freddie worked the course all afternoon, and by the time the last group came in the buggy had taken £1,100 for Only A Pavement Away on its own - more than any refreshment trolley has raised at one of these days before.

The Cause and the Thank You

Why Only A Pavement Away

The day's fundraising was split between the Agents Giving Grant Fund and Only A Pavement Away, a charity that does something refreshingly specific.

Founded in 2018, it connects hospitality employers with people facing homelessness, prison leavers and veterans, and places them into long term, stable work. Not a bed for a night, not a hamper at Christmas - a job, with a wage and a reason to get up. Since it started, it has placed more than 660 people into employment, worth an estimated £25.1 million to the UK economy, and supported over 2,850 more through training and workshops.

It is a model that lives or dies on employers saying yes and on funding covering the gap in between, which is where days like this one come in.

Thank you to David, Yvonne and Vikki at Agents Giving for another well-run day, to everyone who bought a drink from a couple of estate agency suppliers in a buggy, and to Donnington Valley for the course.

We will be back - and if you are fundraising for something between now and then, we would like to hear about it. Get in touch, or follow the blog to keep up with what we are supporting next.