More than £6,000 Raised By West Sussex Firefighter's 'Helping Hoodies'

A West Sussex firefighter's idea of selling hoodies with fire service badges on them to service staff has taken off, after raising more than £6,000 for The Fire Fighters Charity.

In just six months, Station Manager Phil Maynard processed more than 1,250 orders.

The charitable enterprise 'Helping Hoodies' was set up back in the summer to make the hoodies for fire and rescue service personnel, with all proceeds going to The Fire Fighters Charity.

After testing the waters locally, Phil began approaching other services to off them their own hoodies. He's now making hoodies for more than 20 other fire and rescue services.

Phil said:

"Like all charities, The Fire Fighters Charity has really suffered during lockdown, with almost all fundraising activities being put on hold. I wanted to find a way to continue to be able to offer them support, and creating hoodies seemed like a good way of encouraging people to support the cause.

"Not only do they get a high quality hoodie to wear themselves, but they are also helping the life changing work of the charity at the same time, which is win, win as far as I am concerned!"

The hoodies are offered in a range of colours, feature the service's badge embroidered on the front, and Fire & Rescue printed on the back.

While the hoodies are only intended for fire and rescue service personnel at present, there are plans to create an online store for the wider public in the near future too.

Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service’s Chief Fire Officer, said:

"Throughout 2020, Phil was spurring all of our staff on to come up with different ways to support The Fire Fighters Charity, and they took it in their stride.

"From sponsored ladder climbs to 12 hours of fitness workouts – we even had a team of our firefighters cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats in aid of The Fire Fighters Charity.

"As if supporting those ventures himself wasn’t exhausting enough, he came up with a great way of his own to support the charity – and the success of this idea speaks volumes for just how popular it has become. We are all incredibly proud of the unwavering support Phil has shown the charity, and wish him all the best with its continued success into 2021."

Louise Furneaux, Community, Corporate and Events Fundraiser at The Fire Fighters Charity, said:

"On behalf of The Firefighters Charity, I  am so delighted to be able to celebrate Phil’s success with the Helping Hoodies idea. Phil has raised more than £6,000 for the charity and that figure is rising by the day.

"A tiny idea we discussed in the early summer has grown into a huge ongoing achievement, that links so many fire and rescue services together in such a positive way.

"Well Done to you Phil! I would like to thank him for being brave and making such wonderful fundraising happen. I am looking forward to the next amazing idea!"