In the spotlight: our amazing fundraisers

We've shared the story of one our recent fundraisers in the spotlight below. If you'd like to receive information on how you can fundraise for Orbis, or share your own story to potentially be featured, then please email [email protected]

To celebrate National Allotments Week , we're celebrating our fantastic green-fingered, long-time Orbis supporter, Chor Kiee Fennemore. The retired nurse, and proud grandmother to Benjamin and Isabelle lives in Essex, and (as well as supporting us on a monthly basis with a regular donation), keeps herself very busy in her garden and in the kitchen, growing fruit and vegetables. She then offers them to friends and neighbours, often in the form of jams, sauces and chutneys in return for a donation to Orbis, who she says does a wonderful job helping to relieve the problem of unnecessary sight loss, whilst also stressing how important it is that we all look after our own sight.

Her produce must be delicious – in the last year Chor Kiee has raised over £400 through the selling of her ginger marmalade, green chilli dipping sauce, and her special Malaysian spicy pickle, ‘Achar’, for example.

Thank you for supporting us in this superb way Chor Kiee, and a big thank you to everyone in the Benfleet area who enjoys the fruits (& vegetables) of your labour whilst supporting our sight-saving work!

When Melissa Perkins contacted us early in 2020 about the upcoming year of fundraising she was planning on Orbis’s behalf, little did she know how the year would evolve. She had to adapt her plans, while ensuring that she could raise as much money as possible.

Melissa, Lady Captain of The Berkshire Golf Club, felt that any funds raised for Orbis would make an enormous difference to people in need of sight saving treatment. Melissa adds, “thinking about a child being unnecessarily blind would surely instantly make anyone contribute. I also loved the idea of a plane with an operating theatre on it flying round the world to remote places.”

Melissa was forced to rethink her ideas, “normally there would be quite a few big events with many fundraising opportunities, and this year none of those have happened. I did still get fantastic support for my Lady Captain’s Day in September though, where amongst other competitions, players used coloured golf balls, and giant marshmallows, and we were even accompanied by a magician at the half-way point! We raised £500 on the day which we were all very pleased with. I also organised various small competitions, including a ‘Texas Scramble’ for any golf enthusiasts out there!”

Melissa remarked on how friends and fellow golfers were all so willing to help as they appreciated what a difficult year it was for fundraising. Away from the golf course, Melissa also opened her beautiful Hampshire garden (below) to the public on a Summer weekend, raising just under £100, and she is now busy planning her final big fundraising event – a bridge day in March.

Melissa and all those who have supported her have so far raised a fantastic £3,185. We look forward to seeing Melissa’s total fundraising when her captaincy ends.