Project Brighton: Stars encouraged to Wear And Share for charity
Celebrities, Linda Lusardi, Debbie McGee and Marcella Whittingdale have joined in with the ‘Wear And Share’ initiative in support of a leading local charity, Chailey Heritage Foundation, encouraging celebrities to take selfies of themselves wearing fashion t-shirts and share their photos on social media.
The DRM Project (www.thedrmproject.co.uk) was launched to raise money for Chailey Heritage Foundation that supports children and young people with complex needs, through the sale of fashion t-shirts and bags. The project was founded by two mums of children who attend Chailey Heritage School – William, aged 8 and Wilson, aged 6 – both of whom have quadriplegic cerebral palsy and visual impairment.
The initiative was started to support Chailey Heritage Foundation’s D.R.E.A.M. Centre fundraising appeal to raise £2.6m for this project. The D.R.E.A.M. (Dynamic, Real, Experiential, Amazing, Magical) Centre will be a modern, purpose-built space, large enough for children and young people with complex disabilities to participate in a mixture of arts, drama and physical activities. Presently they are using an old existing hall that can only accommodate a limited number of children and young people at one time and where wheelchair users can only access the stage via an outdoor side entrance with ramps.
Large enough for children and young people with complex disabilities to participate in a mixture of arts
The campaign that started with a ‘Supermum’ t-shirt has grown in popularity and fame and soon Zoe and Laura decided to extend the range to include a ‘Yay”, “#Yougotthis” and “Blonde/Brunette/Redhead” designs for not only t-shirts but sweatshirts and bags as well. Now a year from its launch, The DRM Project sells merchandise for women, children and dads too with all the profits going towards the charity. All made from high quality 100% cotton, the t-shirts come in a loose fit and the sweatshirts in boyfriend fit as well as a normal fit.
The idea to invite well known mums to “wear and share” to raise awareness was a lightbulb moment when the mums realised how many celebrities were parents and how using their social media platforms to reach their thousands of followers could raise awareness of the campaign, encouraging people to buy the merchandise and raise money for the charity. Linda Lusardi was one of the first celebrities to get involved. She comments: “The ladies, Laura and Zoe are doing an amazing campaign with these t-shirts. They sent me one and I had a picture taken with it and I put it all over Twitter and other social media. I just want to do all that I can to help really.” Linda has since been ‘wearing and sharing’ her Supermum t-shirt and spent a day at Chailey Heritage meeting some of the children and young people.
Laura, mother of William, comments: “We have experienced first-hand the amazing teachers and support staff at Chailey. We wanted to do something to help the charity and to aid them in building what will be a fantastic space for the children and young adults with complex physical and mental disabilities at Chailey.” Zoe, mother of Wilson continues, “We have always been big fashion fans as well as lovers of selfies so to combine the two by asking celebrities to take photos of themselves in The DRM Project t-shirts seemed to be the perfect way to raise awareness, and hopefully funds for the charity.”
“When Zoe and Laura came to us with the idea of The DRM Project we thought what a fun, exciting way of raising awareness for the charity”, comments Sally-Anne Murray, Development Director for the Chailey Heritage Foundation. “We are totally dependent on fundraising activities such as The DRM Project to raise money for facilities such as The D.R.E.A.M. Centre, that offers the children and young people such opportunities to support their mobility, well-being and health.”
To buy your one of the fashion t-shirts or bags from The DRM Project, please visit www.thedrmproject.co.uk.
