Fun FIGS stay-at-home fundraisers

We have been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of our supporters during this challenging time. Thank you so much to those of you who have reached out with words of encouragement for us to pass on to the school, staff and students. We appreciate that this is a period of great uncertainty and that there are many competing demands on our time and money so your commitment to the wellbeing of the staff and students is humbling.

We have got together as a team of staff and volunteers to come up with some fun, interactive activities that can be done at home that will also help raise funds for Friends of Ibba Girls’ School.

On Sunday 26 April, we took part in the 2.6 Challenge. Former professional rugby player and FIGS supporter, Ryan Manyika (former scrum-half for the Harlequins and the Zimbabwe national rugby sevens team) kicked things off for us first thing on Sunday morning by running 6KM in under 26 minutes. Our supporters took part in a range of fundraising activities. 11-year-old Fin Paterson from Buckinghamshire ran for 26 minutes and planked for 2 minutes and 6 seconds and raised £212 for the charity, and our new Chair of Trustees, Roy Warden, ran a marathon (26.2 miles, in five stages) and raised £262 (plus GiftAid).

Next week, we are launching three new initiatives we would love you to get involved in!

We have teamed up with an experienced long-distance walker, Juliet Hill, to launch our new virtual Steps for South Sudan fundraiser. 24-year-old Juliet has walked large tracts of wilderness in the USA on her own.

Her latest plans, to walk from Mexico to Canada - no, that isn’t your cabin fever, you read that correctly, over 4,000 kilometres, 2650 miles! - has been postponed due to the pandemic, so Juliet has been working with us to map out the walk from Coventry in the UK (the Headquarters of Friends of Ibba Girls’ School) to Ibba in South Sudan (around 11,000 kilometres). The walk is, of course, completely virtual!

Find out how you can get involved.

During this suddenly very different way of life, it is so important to stop and reflect. We have a fun (and safe) activity for you to do, especially with little ones. As fans of the website www.gratefulness.org, we are inviting you to light a virtual candle for South Sudan.

By clicking here, you and your family members can each choose a candle and light it online. To become part of our dedicated candle group, use the words “South Sudan” in your dedication. Once lit, we encourage you to text a small amount to Friends of Ibba Girls’ School. Just text the word LIGHTFORIBBA with the amount you'd like to donate to 70470*.

For example: LIGHTFORIBBA 3

We are partnering with Virgin Giving and Ziffit on their Declutter and Donate campaign. It is so easy!

Ziffit is a free web service that instantly values your books, games, DVDs, and CDs. You just enter the barcode number or ISBN of your product and get an instant value, complete the online trade and pack up your unwanted goodies, use Ziffit's free courier or drop-off service to send your items (this is a very safe, well-managed process and social distancing is their priority), the value of your items will be donated to your Virgin Money Giving fundraising page which you can set up to automatically donate to Friends of Ibba Girls’ School.

Sign up today to take part.

Texts cost the exact amount you donate plus one standard rate message and you’ll be opting in to hear more about our work and fundraising via telephone and SMS. If you’d like to give but do not wish to receive marketing communications, text STEPSINFO [and the amount you'd like to give here, eg. 3 to 70470.