We’re just heard from our friends at BCA that they’ve raised over £9,000 for BEN Week - and counting!  Thanks to them and all our other supporters, the BEN Week 2010 fundraising total is now nearing £12,000!  We’ll let you know as soon as we have the final figure.

In the meantime, thanks to each BCA branch that took part last month:

Bedford - £494.11
Birmingham - £450.00
Blackbushe - £623.00
Bridgewater - £100.00
Brighouse - £371.54
Derby - £853.00
Edinburgh - £129.00
Enfield - £700.00
Glasgow - £412.19
Manchester Belle Vue - £676.16
Measham Cars - £200.00
Measham Commercials - £600.00
Newcastle - £220.00
Newport - £110.00
Nottingham - £854.87
Paddock Wood - £742.00
Peterborough - £367.42
Preston - £164.46
Tewkesbury - £102.21
Expedier - £465.37
Farnham - £650.00

Thanks to everyone who took part last week.  The money is still coming in and so far our fundraising total is £2612!

Thanks to BCA, Blue Bell BMW/MINI, BMW Bracknell,  Bodyshop Magazine, Camberley Autofactors, Citroen, Dagenham Motors Trucks Division, Enterprise Rent-A-Car,  Europcar, Honda, Kawasaki, RIG Automotive Recruit and The IMI  for their continued support of BEN.

If you or your company celebrated National BEN Week, please let us know what you got up to and how much you raised by emailing warren.neal@ben.org.uk or calling 01344 294755.

Dagenham Motors Trucks Division sold Krispy Kreme doughnuts last week in aid of BEN and raised nearly £90.

Apparently, some of them were forced to eat more than one to ensure all the 120 doughnuts were sold…!

Here are some of the team at Chelmsford with the last 10 doughnuts to be sold:

Last week Kawasaki held a beach day in aid of BEN Week and raised £100 - thanks guys!

Honda’s BEN Week target was £250, which they raised by holding a table football tournament!  Here are some snaps of the action:

Thanks to our supporters, we’re able to help people like Elaine.

Elaine used to work in an insurance call centre when her husband became dependent on drugs and alcohol.  She could no longer cope at home and it started to affect her work.  That’s when she decided to get in touch with BEN.

One of BEN’s welfare team had a long  chat with Elaine on the phone.  She felt trapped because she was not on a good wage and could not afford to get away.

We helped her with practical information on how to prepare  for an emergency and she ended up going to a refuge.  BEN then helped her with the deposit for a flat  of her own.

We have kept in touch with Elaine and she is doing much better.

If you would like to talk to someone at BEN in complete confidence, our team is on hand Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm:

Use our online form
Telephone: 01344 876770
Text: 07781 472622 (text only)
Email: careservices@ben.org.uk

Last week residents and staff at Alexandra House, our care centre in Southport, truly did hit the beach for BEN by paying a visit to Southport Pier:

To round off National BEN Week, staff at our head office in Ascot enjoyed a lunch time BBQ today, followed by a competitive game of volley ball!

We also said goodbye to our lovely German volunteers today, Andreas and Arthur, who have been helping at Lynwood over the past year.  They have been great sports and will be missed by staff and residents alike.  They are also lethal with a volley ball!

‘Weymouth’ Warren and ‘Jersey’ Jim hosted yesterday’s quiz night at Lynwood, our care centre in Ascot, in aid of BEN.

It was a cracking evening that saw Team ‘We Don’t Know’ walk away with the title of quiz champions!  Well done to Kirsten, Kelly, Andy and Kate pictured below.

We’ve just had a sunhat parade over at Lynwood (our car centre in Ascot), with staff from our head office and Lynwood.  Well done to Ros, whose beautiful seaside creation won the competition!