Get ready for Raynaud’s Awareness Month - February 2020

#KnowRaynauds

Our 2019 Raynaud's Awareness Month in February was a great success. We had over 25,000 taking our online Raynaud's test and 2,000 came whilst our CEO Sue Farrington was interviewed on BBC Breakfast. That's a big increase from 2018 where we had 6,000 taking the test.

We want to do even better than that in 2020 and we will need your help to achieve this. Our aim for our awareness month is to get as many people as possible to know what the symptoms are, learn how to manage the symptoms and understand the risks. We also want people to know that SRUK is here and can offer support and information. We want people to be empowered to know their Raynaud's.

We will soon be reaching out to you with more information about our February 2020 campaign and plans so do keep an eye out for more info. In the meantime if you have a story that you would like to tell us or any ideas of how you can get involved and help us raise awareness in your local area, then please do contact: Gemma Cornwell on 020 3893 5991 or email gemma.cornwell@sruk.co.uk

Cosy Up with a Coffee

Every year we also ask our supporters to organise a Cosy Up with a Coffee event – last year your events raised £2,500 in February. What better excuse to get your friends, colleagues, neighbours, local school or community together to raise money, talk about Raynaud's and of course enjoy a homemade cake or two! We have a pack which includes top tips, posters, bunting and more.

This is your opportunity to talk about why SRUK is important to you, and why it's important to #KnowRaynauds.

What better way to spend a cold February day than with a warm mug of your favourite brew, talking to your friends, colleagues, neighbours or family and raising funds for SRUK. You could even get people to take the online test at the event!

Perhaps you prefer to organise an event in your workplace - and get all your colleagues involved, you could even have a competition for the best bakers! Cake and conversation are often a popular event at work. With 1 in 6 people affected you may be helping your colleagues to find out more about the symptoms they may be experiencing.

Siobhan Hollis has organised two “Cosy up with a Coffee" events and has had great success at both of them. In 2018 she raised £460, beating the £450 raised at her first event in 2017 – which is a brilliant achievement.

It's a real team effort and her daughter spends hours making her showstopper creations pictured above. They also have a raffle on the day and manage to get good prizes by asking round the various shops and restaurants in their local shopping centre.

Siobhan really enjoys the “Cosy Ups" as it is a great opportunity to bring together her friends and family and really shine a spotlight on scleroderma and Raynaud's, which many of her guests hadn't previously heard of. Some of them have even gone on to join the SRUK Facebook group and share info with their networks.

This is a great example of how an event can continue to be successful; as even after the cakes and coffee have finished, the conversations about scleroderma and Raynaud's keep going.

This is an enjoyable way to raise funds, with no training schedules or sponsorship target!

If your event raised £100 that could pay for any of these:

• 20 families to receive an information pack to help discuss their condition and get support to manage their symptoms
• 14 thermography images – to help understand the mechanism of Raynaud's and develop better treatments
• At least 10 people to benefit from talking to one of our trained Helpline volunteers

If you are interested in signing up or have any questions about hosting your Cosy up with a Coffee, contact Apurva by emailing fundraising@sruk.co.uk or calling 020 3893 5993