Racing Welfare Covid-19 Emergency Appeal hits the halfway mark
Thanks to the generosity of the racing community, we are thrilled to announce that our Covid-19 Emergency Appeal has reached a major milestone by surpassing the £250,000 mark, currently sitting at a huge £252,243! The appeal seeks to raise £500k to make up for income lost following the cancellation of our fundraising events due to take place during the first half of 2020.
It has been wonderful to see the whole racing community come together in support of Racing Welfare over the last few months. Prior to the resumption of racing , the appeal was kick-started by The Furlong Factor, which combined with the NightIn4Nightout campaign to raise an incredible £50k.
“The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been felt throughout the racing industry. For Racing Welfare the cancellation of many of our usual fundraising events has seen us face a huge income deficit at a time when our services have never been more needed. ” said Dawn Goodfellow,
The response of the entire racing community to our Covid-19 Emergency Appeal has been truly uplifting and to be able to announce that we have hit the halfway mark of £250,000 is a huge boost.
Dawn Goodfellow, Racing Welfare's Chief Executive
Since racing restarted, many of racing’s businesses, such as Betway, Racehorse Lotto and Hambleton Racing, have come up with innovative ways of raising funds for us. Support has come from across the racing community for events such as the Virtual Royal Ascot Preview Evening, supported by Sporting Life, and Racing Welfare’s Best Turned Out series, which was backed by Betfair.
Read more about what some of our supporters have been up to here.
What’s Next..?
We still have a long way to go to hit the final target of £500k. Your donations have never been more needed as we continue to see an increase in the numbers of people coming to us for support.
Whilst racing behind closed doors continues we know that you, like us, will be enjoying the action from home. In a normal year, around two million people would attend race meetings throughout the months of July, August and September. This period includes some of racing’s biggest Flat fixtures such as Newmarket’s July Festival, Glorious Goodwood, York’s Ebor Meeting and Doncaster’s St Leger fixture.
As racing fans continue to take part in these big race days from home, Racing Welfare is appealing for would-be racegoers to donate the price of their ticket for the races this summer. Every donation really does count and enables us to support our industry’s workforce who are crucial in bringing us a fabulous summer of racing.
We will be looking out for you showing your support on social media and we cannot wait to share and retweet images of you enjoying the sport from home whilst supporting Racing Welfare.
To find out more about our Emergency Appeal or to donate click here.