We met Mark Gibbons, 30, at BNI last week. He is masterminding a giant skydiving event with the aim of raising thousands of pounds for the Bluebell Foundation.
The charity provides counselling and support to families in South Cumbria faced with the death or illness of a child. This dad of 3 is rallying a troop of brave fundraisers in a bid to keep a vital charity afloat for a year.
Mark told the group that he had initially planned to get a group of six people together to take part in the skydive at Cark airfield on August 4. But after posting the event on social networking website Facebook, he was overwhelmed with requests from people across the UK.
The rapid response meant that he was able to fill the space for 40 people – the maximum number for one day – to do the jump, and arranged for another event the following day for the surplus of volunteers.
So far, 22 people have signed up for the second day of skydiving on August 5, but Mr Gibbons hopes to fill the number of jumpers to capacity once again.
Losing a child as a young man, Mr Gibbons felt compelled to do something to help the foundation. Mark told BNI “When I set out to do thus, I just wanted to raise a bit of money myself for Bluebell. I lost a daughter when she was stillborn a long time ago, and then there was nothing along the lines of the help they give to parents now”.
If Mark is able to recruit the enough brave “volunteers” to take part in the sponsored jump, he has predicted that the money raised, along with the proceeds of a charity auction in June, will cover the foundation’s running costs for around 14 months.
Participants are being asked to raise a minimum of £420 sponsorship and the Great Bluebell Charity Skydive need the support of local businesses too.
Anyone who wishes to take part in the jump can contact Mr Gibbons on 01229 343392, or via the Facebook page “The Great Bluebell Charity Skydive”.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/thegreatbluebellcharityskydive/
