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Our Stoke-on-Trent
bred superstar, Robbie Williams has been giving away loadsamoney.
 It
goes to show that the sight of our very own Robster parading around
all those years ago in tight white pants, the daft wig and with
a harem of stunning beauties was actually of benefit to us all!
I am, as you may have guessed, talking
about the sponsorship deal the man himself had with Pepsi, because the money he
received from "helping" the cola giant was where it all began..
How
it all started...
In June 2000, with the help of Comic Relief,
Robbie Williams set up Give It Sum.
Robbie was impressed by how
every penny Comic Relief (the people behind Red Nose Day) receives is put
towards benefiting varying projects, plus the way that the public is informed
of where the money goes and the difference it makes to peoples lives.
A bit of... relief
 In
fact, the Robster flew out to Africa to record appeals and reports for the programme,
while, in the past he helped record the charity's award winning animation Robbie
The Reindeer, singing a cover version of "Come Fly With Me" and performing as
narrator.
For Red Nose Day 2003 appeared in a special sketch for the
TV programme, in his birthday suit!
Now Give It Sum is helping
all sorts of causes all over North Staffordshire. It aims to improve local conditions
and strengthen community life by giving money to those who are disadvantaged.
In the first year of its existence, thirteen projects received a share of
£210,000; one of these was St Margaret Ward RC High School in Stoke on Trent,
formerly Robbie's educational haunt!
To date the Fund has supported 64 groups
to a total of well over a million pounds.
Goodbye to all Take That
Robbie continues to raise money for Give It Sum in varying ways.
In 2001 he auctioned off a selection of stuff he had collected over the over the
years at Sotheby's, with items including rare Take That vinyls and some of those
highly prized platinum discs.
Part of the collection included the hand-written
lyrics to songs such as Angels which were expected to raise more than £10,000
each. Even Robbie, who was present for the auctioning of the Angels lyrics, was
stunned when it actually fetched £27,000!
The auction in total raised
£221,044 for Give It Sum. (Forget givin it sum, I'd say it got quite
a lot!)
Helping North Staffs organisations
Robbie has visited
several of the local organisations that Give It Sum has benefited to see
how the money was being used.
So far, more than 50 grants have been awarded
to projects in the North Staffordshire area through the Fund, simply because this
is where Robbie grew up and he wants to put something back into the community.
The money has gone to a variety of projects across the region in places
such as Stoke, Staffordshire Moorlands and Newcastle under Lyme. Children, young
homeless people, mothers, disabled people and older people are just some of the
people who have benefited.
 I
am very proud to be from Burslem, I am very proud to be from Tunstall. I will
never forget my roots as long as I live because it has shaped a great deal of
who I am. I am very proud that I can raise awareness for my city and I want to
carry on doing it." "In
the future I want to be more proactive and I want to be more active in and around
Stoke on Trent - the place that I love, the place that I come from and the place
that I'll eventually return to." "I'm
glad that the little help that I give can raise the profile of things like this,
it's a great thing to be able to do, it really is."  |
A £5,000
grant from Give It Sum allowed The Old Blurton Community Association
to fight off the council's plan to build a car park in their already run-down
estate.
A new playground now stands where the car park would have been and
the association has gone from strength to strength in taking back control of its
community.
Nina Hulse captured the difference Give It Sum has made when she
said, "What we needed was the boost, the encouragement, to have a go at
changing things around here. Robbie and the grant from Give It Sum gave us that."
Give
It Sum money has also made a huge difference to the lives of many elderly residents
in the Cheadle area. Old age often brings with it deteriorating physical and mental
health, making isolation and loneliness a very real and distressing problem. The
Cheadle and District Homelink Service (CDHS) phone link service
allows volunteers to chat and build up friendships with around 50, often frail
older people, two or three times a week.
Other
groups to have benefited (see their pages) are: The
Sutton Trust Community Group and the Youth4Audley
& Planet Sound Drum School
and Gay Switchboard &
The Haregate Ladies
Give
him sum credit
Give It Sum has enabled local people to make a big difference to the community
and I know that all of them are eternally grateful to Robbie.
As long as Give
It Sum is helping the local community then there is always hope for those
who need help.
Article by Hannah Tunnicliffe
How
you can apply
Set up in 2000 and managed by Comic Relief, the Give It Sum
fund aims to help grassroots groups in and around Stoke-on-Trent create change
within their own areas.
So far, the fund has helped over 126 projects
in the area, awarding more than £2 million.
Give It Sum is now
open for grant applications.
Click here to find out all
the details.
And
you too can add to this page ...
Can you add other facts about Give
It Sum?
Do you know of some of the ways the money has benefited people?
Can you let us have photos of Give It Sum money is being used?
If you can help or have comments - e-mail us! |
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Robbie in a recording studio (photo © Scarlet Page)
