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Date:  20 June 2007

Sinclair House stages a 12-hour fundraising telethon

Telephone lines were buzzing at Jewish Care’s Sinclair House on June 14th – when the community centre staged its first-ever fundraising telethon with the help of 30 volunteers. The 12-hour telethon resulted in hundreds of people pledging support and it was also an opportunity for the 1,500-plus people contacted to learn about the centre’s valuable work.

The telethon was the brainchild of Duggi Zarum-Glick, the centre’s fundraising and marketing executive. She said: “So many people have come to value what’s on offer at Sinclair House at some point in the lives – as the place they went to club or where grandma goes to the day centre - but are surprised when you tell them that many services can only survive because they are heavily subsidised.”

There is a growing demand for facilities at the Redbridge-based centre, ranging from mother and toddler groups and an after-school club, to activities for young people and an adult programme, as well as the day centre for older people. But Sinclair House is running at a yearly deficit of over £750,000, hence the appeal for the community’s support.

Among volunteers hitting the phones was Alexis Williams, 23, a student drama teacher at King Solomon High School and chair of Young Jewish Care Essex. She said: “There are many calls these days on people’s generosity – but even where people felt unable to make a donation it gave us an opportunity to explain that Sinclair House very much relies on support from the community.”

That was a view echoed by another volunteer – Steve Juggler, 60. He commented: “I wanted to do this because Sinclair House is so vital. We never know when we might need its services ourselves – and it cannot survive on thin air. Even if people can’t find a small amount to help with the running costs, perhaps they can consider giving up some of their time to volunteer at the centre.”

Mrs Zarum-Glick adds: “Our running costs are in the region of £1.3 million this year – and more than half of this has to be found from the community. The telethon was an effort to explain this to people – with the hope of encouraging them to make a donation, even if this is just in the region of £2, £5 or £10 a month – of course if people are able to contribute more than this, then so much the better!

“As many of the people contacted have signed up to donate by direct debit, it is hard to quantity how much has been raised by the telethon at this point in time but it has certainly been very successful. We are also planning to repeat the exercise over the coming weeks.” Anyone wishing to get involved should call Duggi on 020 8418 2108 or email dzarum-glick@jcare.org.