We’ve made a pretty big deal of late about the #20kForSimon campaign… and understandably so, we think.
To see the trade display such compassion and generosity for an installer going through such a horrific time – and someone most have never met – would’ve warmed the heart of even the most cynical among us.
If you’ve missed any part of the story, here’s a brief recap of what’s gone on. We make no apologies for covering it again, it absolutely bears repeating!
The background
Simon Antonelli, a plumber from the West Country, was diagnosed with cancer back in April. He explains: “I had a huge operation to remove my femur and hip. I’ve been in hell ever since. I will never work again.”
A Facebook post from Simon to the Gas Chat group was brought to the attention of the Twitter community on July 1st by Peter Booth.
The response was overwhelmingly in favour of setting up a fundraising page for Simon. It also included this tweet from Patrick O’Laughlin.
Fundraising
A GoFundMe page was set up for Simon on the morning of July 2nd and promoted heavily across social media. The response from the community was instant and extraordinary. More than £10,000 was raised inside 48 hours, not just from the heating and plumbing industry but across the trades. And the momentum from there was phenomenal. Auctions were run; manufacturers arranged for their installers to convert loyalty scheme points into donations; the message was spread far and wide.
Having warded off a minor hiccup when someone tried to defraud the campaign – that’s a tale for another time but suffice to say it still makes the blood boil – 80% of the target was reached before the end of the first week. By July 11th, £20,000 was raised.
Message from Simon
Simon, of course, is still desperately unwell, but took the time to send a message from his hospital bed.
It’s incredibly difficult to sum up the range of emotions we’ve been through as mere outsiders looking in at what this industry has done to help out one of its own. The power of social media to do good is evident (and refreshingly welcome) but above all, the overwhelming kindness of the community has come to the fore. It’s only right to leave the last word to Simon: “You have melted my heart with your generosity.”
At the time of writing, the total has passed £22,000 courtesy of more than 720 individual donations. It’s still going… and is still trending on the GoFundMe site. If you’d like to donate, the link is www.gofundme.com/20kforsimon
