Slimming World ‘throw’ £5,200 to charity in Big Clothes Throw event

Staff at Slimming World’s Alfreton HQ waved goodbye to more than 200 purple bags filled with clothes, shoes and accessories to support the company’s Big Slimming World Clothes Throw initiative.

With each filled bag worth around £25 when re-sold, the 208 bags collected by Slimming World employees will raise an estimated £5,200 for Cancer Research UK and stock will fill local shops in Sutton in Ashfield, Bulwell, Arnold, Sherwood and Derby.

The Big Slimming World Clothes Throw runs across Slimming World’s national 18,000 weekly groups across the UK over a two-week period in May, inviting members to donate the clothes they’ve successfully slimmed out of and no longer need. Last year the campaign raised £3.3million and this year Slimming World and Cancer Research UK, which is the organisation’s charity partner, hope to match that figure.

On hand to count up the bags and load the Cancer Research UK collection van was Slimming World’s current Employee of the Year Tom Marvell. Tom works as a Field Support Partner, managing a team who support the company’s 4,800 Consultants to deliver exceptional service to their group members.

The company has recently extended their head office building to support its future growth plans, making room for a new state-of-the-art training centre and building a 465-seater restaurant big enough to seat their head office staff along with Slimming World Consultants who regularly visit the organisation’s Alfreton HQ to train at the Slimming World Academy.

Tom, who has worked for Slimming World for 10 years, says: “There’s always something fun to get involved with when you work at Slimming World, and we look forward to the Clothes Throw because it’s a great excuse for us all to have a wardrobe clear-out and raise money for an important cause all at the same time. I just couldn’t believe how many bags we had managed to get. Our underground car park, where the bags were stored, pretty much turned purple. Lifting them all into the Cancer Research van was a great workout in itself!”

Slimming World’s Campaign and Planning Manager, Clare Lee, organises the national fundraising campaign, along with the bag collection at Slimming World’s head office. She says: “Our 350 head office employees never fail to surprise us with their generosity when we ask them to get behind a charity event. The Cancer Research UK van that came to collect the bags was full to the brim and local shops have been delighted to receive so much valuable stock. We hope every t-shirt, dress and pair of shoes collected by our members and head office staff will help to make a real difference.”

“I’m really proud to say that our partnership with Cancer Research UK, which is now in its sixth year, plays a vital part in spreading the message that keeping a healthy weight could reduce the risk of developing many types of cancer. Raising awareness of this fact is a key aim of the partnership overall.”