Premiership Rugby Partners Aviva, is handing over its sponsorships to charity for a 48 hour fundraising push.
This weekend, Aviva is using its shirt sponsorship of Norwich City FC (NCFC) plus branding at all Aviva Premiership Rugby matches to allow its charity partner Railway Children to take centre stage for Aviva’s community weekend.
The activity kicks-off on Saturday 22 February and calls on the public to take five minutes out of their weekend to show their support for Railway Children’s new ‘Take 5’ Campaign. This small action can go a long way to help children on the street and raise vital funds for the charity.
NCFC Director Stephen Fry will be showing his support on Twitter alongside Aviva Premiership Rugby and NCFC players.
They will be posting ‘Take 5’ selfies and encouraging fans to retweet the images using the hashtag #Take5. Aviva will donate £1 for every tweet or retweet containing #Take5 over the weekend up to £100,000.
This donation figure, 100,000, represents the worrying number of children that run away from home each year in the UK.
Railway Children provide help and support to children under 16 who have run away from home or are at risk of doing so.
They estimate that one child runs away from home every five minutes in the UK. That’s the equivalent of 18 children during a football match,16 during a rugby match and a total of 114 children during the Aviva Community Weekend fixtures.
As part of their international Street to School programme, Aviva works in partnership with Railway Children in the UK to raise awareness of this hidden issue, as well as providing vital funds for the charity to deliver crucial support and services before, during and after young people run away from home.
Saracens Defence and Forwards Coach, Paul Gustard, who recently had the opportunity to visit one of Railway Children’s London Projects, said: “It is great to see Premiership Rugby joining such a worthwhile campaign. I saw for myself the positive effect the charity is having for children on the streets in the UK on a visit to one of their London Projects.
“I just hope that with the additional support of Aviva Premiership Rugby, we can top last year’s campaign total and generate both financial support and recognition for the charity’s critical work.”
For more information on match day activity, click here.