Friends of CCS Committee

Friends of CCS Adoption was formed just a few months ago, in the autumn of 2022, by one of our amazing adopters Daniel Rawlings-Saunders. We are incredibly grateful to him for this as, post-pandemic, it enabled families and friends to reconnect and get together at some amazing events in the run-up to Christmas. Not only we did have great fun, but we also raised much-needed funds to support the post-adoption support activities at the CCS Adoption Support. All our winter events combined, with some employee match funding raised an incredible £1,545. We were so excited to see great attendance from families and friends at all these events, and thank you to those people who did get involved behind the scenes and on the day  – the number of volunteers we had was amazing!

We are now getting ready for some fun and games in 2023, and to devise a programme of events that meets the needs of our adopters and their families, we would like to form a Friends of CCS committee. The tasks needed to put together these events can then be spread amongst a group of volunteers, and getting together to organise things can become as much a social event as the events themselves! You never know if meetings could be held in the pub, it’s up to you!

It doesn’t matter if you are an ‘expert’ in a particular area, an enthusiastic volunteer bursting with great ideas, or just like to help out if someone else tells you what to do! Whatever you can offer will be very gratefully received. It’s also worth noting that many employers offer match funding if you are involved in any way with a charity fundraising event so if you work for one of those employers please do consider joining us!

As a starter for 10, some of the specific tasks/areas we would love some support for are:

— Secretary role – minute taking, meeting organisation etc.

— Marketing and comms role – posters, social media etc. (in conjunction with the Marketing Officer at CCS)

— Treasurer role – basic budgeting for events, e.g. expenses and likely income raised

— Venue sourcing/booking role

— Catering role – organising food and drink requirements for events

— 3^rd party liaison role – e.g. raffle prizes, stall holders etc.

— Regular Volunteers for a range of jobs

— Any other role we haven’t thought of!

The plan would be to have a kickoff meeting with all new volunteer members in March and then to meet bi-monthly thereafter, plus any other ad hoc subcommittees, as necessary in the run-up to events. All meetings would be hybrid to suit people’s other commitments etc. We also promise to be informal, friendly and fun!

It is fantastic that Friends of CCS has been established and a brilliant way to help fund post-adoption support whilst building awareness of CCS and being part of the Adopter community. For staff it is also a great way for us to stay connected with our wider ‘CCS Family’ and we appreciate the value of this.

If you would like to be a member of the Friends of CCS Committee or a regular volunteer, please get in touch with us at fundraising@ccsadoption.org.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Many thanks in advance,

Friends of CCS Adoption