To take part in the challenge is very easy!
- Make sure you have joined the FB group
- Create your fundraiser to log your Steps
Once you have those done, just keep stepping throughout the month and make sure to keep your family, friends and supporters upto date with your progress.
If you have filled in the form to register for your welcome pack you will receive a email from us shortly afterwards confirming your registration.
To make sure you have created your fundraiser click HERE and you will see your fundraiser here.
In your welcome pack, you will get a letter from us, your Challenge T-Shirt and your steps tracker. Sponsorship cards are only added if requested.
No, spread your Steps across the month and just do as many as you can. 300,000 across 31 days in March is a little under 10,000 a day, but some days you will do more than others. You can only do your best!
You will find the handy tracker in your pack that you can fill in and post pictures of it. You can also use any app of your choice, or just a handy pen and paper! Whatever suits you best, aslong as you post this to your fundraiser clearly!
We also encourage people to post to the Facebook group, but note we cannot use the group to track steps.
As part of the challenge registration, you create your Facebook Fundraiser. Using that same fundraiser, you can post your progress and any updates along the way. These pages are linked to us and we will be able to check this for your progress. Please note this is the ONLY way we can check your Steps, we cannot use the group.
Yes of course, 300,000 Steps will be a challenge for some but not everyone! If you feel you want to challenge yourself to do more you are more than welcome to do so, but we will only be tracking the 300,000! Please remember to only do what you can and do not over stretch yourself. We don't want anyone getting hurt or injuring themselves.
Packs will be sent in batches throughout the month. Note your registration date will not be the same as the postage date. Please note there are also delays with an Post so post may take longer than normal. In some cases this could take up to a week.
No, there is no minimum needed to be raised in the Steps challenge. We ask that you raise as much as possible to make sure the challenge can support as many patients in the Mercy as possible.
So for us to be able to track your progress we use Facebook fundraisers. If you do not want to share your fundraiser with your family and friends, you can just use it to track your Steps and make a donation yourself to your fundraiser. If you are not creating a fundraiser you will need to reach out to us at challenges@mercyhospitalfoundation.ie.
Of course, you can requestion one either on the FB group or by emailing challenges@mercyhospitalfoundation.ie. Please note if you request a sponsor card you must return it even if you do not use it.
Unfortunately, Facebook does not allow people to donate without a Facebook page. They can transfer the funds directly to you and you can donate on their behalf, or they can also donate through our fundraiser using iDonate for your non Facebook Friends. Please note that only Facebook Fundraisers are being used to track Steps.
Of course, we are delighted to have more people join the team, just guide them to find the links in the Announcement section of the fundraising group just like you did and once they register we can send them their own pack.
All the links to setup a Facebook fundraising page is in the Announcement or Pinned section of the Facebook Group.
To edit your fundraise, just open it up (you can find your fundraiser HERE) and click the 'edit' button on your cover if you are on a laptop, or the 'Edit' button at the top of your fundraiser under your profile picture if you are on a mobile.
If you have setup your fundraiser using the links in our Facebook group, it won't end until the 15th of April, if you have manually created it, it ends 2 weeks after your creation date unless you change it. If it has ended, you cannot re-open it so you just need to create a new fundraiser and let us know so we can see where you are posting your steps.
Please report any issues within the group to a member of Admin immediately, we will work with you to find a solution. Please note we do not recommend you meet or contact others outside the group as we cannot intervene in these situations.
If you have anything you would like to pass onto the Admins of the group you can post in the Facebook group – if suitable. Otherwise, you can pop us an email on challenges@mercyhospitalfoundation.ie
There are a few ways you can return your funds to us raised on a sponsorship card:
1. Online - use your Facebook fundraiser or the mercyhospitalfoundation.ie website.
2. Post - send a cheque to us in the Mercy Foundation office in 4 Washington Street West, Cork, T12 CVH2.
3. In your local Bank - you can contact us for these details.
You will be able to drop the funds and card back into the office if you wish. While we usually request you return all sponsor cards, we understand this may not be possible for every situation so the following are options:
1. Return the sponsorship card to us by post (even if you did not use it)
2. You can also post 2 pictures on your fundraiser. The first picture of your card with the donation lines and names on it. The second picture is of the card ripped up afterwards, making sure to have the card number showing.
It is never a problem if you cannot finish the challenge, we appreciate all the efforts you made so far, and any funds raised will still go to helping the patients in the Mercy during their Cancer journey. You can keep your t-shirt and tracker, but please return any sponsor cards (empty or with funds) to the Foundation.
