‘Let’s Get Snapping for M.E!’ 2013 Christmas Cards Photo Competition Extra Winners!

The ‘Let’s do it for ME!’ team love going that extra mile and this competition is no exception! We’ve been busy coming up with lots of ideas and liaising with the lovely folk at Invest in ME since the competition closed to see what ‘extras’ we could rustle up.

Given the high standard of shortlisted entries, Invest in ME said, "It was difficult to choose this year as the photos were really good." So much so, they were keen to have some more photos printed up as Christmas cards! In the end four more photos were chosen, from the twenty most voted for in the online vote. 

But before we announce the extra four winners, we’d like to let you in on another treat we have in store for you all in the run up to Christmas. The team were discussing that it would be nice to do something Christmassy to get into the festive spirit this year, particularly given the isolation many people with ME experience which is all the more apparent at this time of year. We also wanted to give, especially since the standard of entries has been so high, those who didn’t win or make it to the online vote a chance to shine. We decided a great way to encompass all this would be to have an online advent calendar featuring photos entered into the competition, with a different photo for each day. Some will be from those shortlisted, others you will have never seen before, unless of course it happens to be your photo! We’re finalising the details at the moment but once we have further news we’ll let you all know, so keep an eye out for updates on Facebook, Twitter and our blog.

You’ll also be pleased to know that the 2013 Christmas cards featuring the winning photos from this competition, including those featured below, are now available to buy.   You can also purchase our fabulous 2014 Calendar.  The remaining stock of Christmas cards from last year’s competition is available at reduced prices. All of which are sold in aid of Invest in ME’s biomedical research fund and which you can order from Invest in ME - click here. 

Finally, we can now proudly announce the four extra winners in our 'Let’s Get Snapping for ME!' 2013 Competition. It’s like Christmas has come early! (Entries appear in the order they featured in the Online Vote.)

 

Congratulations and well done!

 

 

 

 

 

December Updates

Total Raised so far - £73k!

*  We do hope you able are able to enjoy the best of the festive season this year. 

*  Thanks to the help and hard work of so many wonderful supporters, we are now over 70% on the way to the £100k target!

 *  Who could resist our adorable little LDIFME Teds all dressed up for winter – limited stock of this exclusive design. Handmade tug toys for your canine friends are also available. Click here for details of Teds and Tugs - many thanks to Annabel Luery!

*  Jane Hurst's Photocards make great gifts all year round: "Hi, We have put together some more photo cards. All photos featured were taken by friends and family all of whom, like myself have ME. The cards are printed on quality card and make lovely gifts, Thank You Notes, birthday cards etc. They are sold in aid of Invest In ME and The 25% ME Group. Cost is £3.99 per pack of 5 or £1 each. Postage is 75p per pack. You can pay by cheque or Paypal, just PM me for more details. Thanks ever so much."
Pack 1
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.156767279186.145229.639834186&type=3
Pack 2
http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.156759794186.145225.639834186&type=3

*  If you have any friends or relatives who would kindly take a charity collection box to work or host a coffee and mince pie morning or New Year Party or have other ideas to support us by raising awareness and a few extra £1s during the festive season, that would be wonderful.

*  Invest in ME placed another advertisement in London Business Matters for December and January, in time for Christmas and New Year.  The ad highlights one of the research projects that we are helping to raise funds for. The ad first appeared in October and this time it is supplemented with an "editorial" piece about ME featuring Rosa's 21st Birthday Appeal.  Click here for details.

*  The Invest in ME elves have been snowed under, busily packaging the superb Christmas cards and 2013 calendar, produced by Let's do it for ME supporters, and posting them out across the globe. The cards include a message about Invest in ME and Let's do it for ME on the back and the A5 size is handy if you want to include an IiME or LDIFME leaflet as a bit of extra ME awareness-raising, and also guarantees that they will be noticed when on display. The calendar has a factual quote about ME at the foot of each page to keep awareness going throughout the year and so would make an ideal gift to be displayed at your health clinic or elsewhere on public view, and why not send a card to your health professionals and local MP too? Many thanks to all involved in the Christmas card photo competition and contributors to the calendar, with special thanks to Julia Cottam for all her hard work on organising and coordinating the cards and calendar project. Click here to order - repeat orders are coming in as people are so pleased with the quality.

*  To see the wide range of other cards, decorations, and gifts produced in aid of our worthy cause, please see the Christmas Shop on our sparkly new website created over several months by Let's do it for ME campaign co-founder, Jan Laverick. Links on the page include the gifted supporters who make up the ever-expanding team of crafters of all ages, led by Jon Watson. The more the merrier so please contact us or Jon if you would like to join in. Jon has also been running Make ME Crafts stalls at local events and the last before Christmas was on Saturday 15th December 2012 from 09:00 – 17:30 at Love Southsea Christmas Market, Palmerston Road in Portsmouth. Jon's ingenuity, hard work and unfailing enthusiasm is truly inspiring and we are really grateful to all who support his efforts, and those of the rest of the team.

*  The 1st of the month is the day on which we hope that as many supporters as possible will take us a few steps closer to our goal by donating just £1.  What a great way to herald in the New Year by inviting your friends and family to join this event on 1st January.  Every £1 counts so please share the link to the One Day - One Pound page widely as it is a monthly event and will continue throughout the coming year.

*  November saw the release of not one, but two, brilliant audio plays with all those involved in both projects having generously donated their time and talents so that every penny of the proceeds go to Invest in ME! Writers Jac Rayner and Barnaby Eaton-Jones are both members of the Let's do it for ME team and were the instigators of these projects in aid of Invest in ME. We are quite simply blown away by the extraordinary kindness and support they have received and we cannot thank them and their fabulous friends and supporters enough for their amazing dedication to the spirit of our campaign. You can find out “who's Who” and more besides about the Big Finish audio download “Bernice Summerfield: Many Happy Returns” on our website here, and about Barnaby's audio play “Running To Stand Still” here. Jac also ran a competition for extra ME awareness-raising, which closed on 5th Dec. Details on her blog here.

*  1st November marked two years since the lifetime ban on blood donation by anyone who has had ME and the brilliant ME Awareness track “I Can't Stand Tha Rain” by Mama Chill and featured on our website here, raised £50 for a Halloween event, many thanks to Mama Chill, aka Stacy Hart! 

*  Young Harrrison Honey got November off to a great start by creating his Just Giving page. He wrote, “Although it has been a year since I was in hospital due to M.E. I am still struggling with this awful misunderstood illness. I am still not in school and I want my life back as I knew it. I know many other children who are suffering with this illness too and I am in touch with them. They are also missing out on so many things like me. This is such a great cause, raising money to find a cure!!” We loved his update, “OMG, Speechless. After only the 2nd day of advertising my page I have already reached my target !!!! I have increased this now to £300 (double what I had originally hoped for). Thank you to everyone who has donated already. Harri =) Do take a look at his page here to see his latest update and the amazing amount he has been raising. Well done to Harri and many thanks to all his supporters and more news to come!

*  Young Maddi Kent and her wonderful family previously featured in a Make ME Crafts blog and have now raised over £1,000 including Gift Aid, through “Maddison's Bracelets”. We were deeply saddened and shocked to hear that the family has been struck by tragedy. Tristi posted this message on the Invest in ME Facebook group, “ just a quick message for those of you that havent heard. my eldest daughter (Maddi's elder sister) was on the pavement and hit by a drunk driver just over 2 weeks ago and had to have her leg amputated. hence things have been awful here and myself and maddi have had to put our ME fund raising on hold for now. when we can we will restart. in the meantime everyone keep up the amazing work you have been doing :) xxxxxxxxx” Our love and thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.

*  As said above, November also marked the 21st birthday of Rosa Amor. Severely ill and currently in a nursing home being fed by tube, Rosa was unable to celebrate in the usual ways that others of her age might, so instead she chose to use her special day to raise awareness and funds for the cause so close to her heart. We wrote about Rosa's 21st Birthday here - now updated as Rosa's Appeal is featured in an "editorial" piece about ME accompanying an ad by Invest in ME in London Business Matters magazine.  Rosa's Appeal is also in pdf here. The staff at the nursing home joined in with a pyjama day with all proceeds to Rosa's appeal and thanks to the support and generosity of a number of people, over £1600 was raised on the Just Giving page including Gift Aid. Goodwill messages were posted across the social networking sites and some people used Rosa's photo as their profile picture for the day. Her mother Julia said, “Rosa's Appeal has surpassed all our expectations. Check out the link to see her amazing total and all the different people who have supported her. We are so grateful to everyone.” Many thanks to Rosa and her family for their staunch support in helping to make hope a reality.

*  The above are some examples of all the amazing efforts to support our campaign, please email us at fundraising4me@gmail.com if you would like yours to be added and do keep checking as we hope to add news as it comes in throughout the month and to make our summary of updates a monthly feature. For all information about the Let's do it for ME campaign for Invest in ME, please see the main website and especially the Christmas Shop page! Thank you so much for your support - Let's do it for ME!

*Everyone at Invest in ME perfoms the charity's work for free and all involved in the Let's do it for ME campaign are also volunteers, either with ME themselves or parents/carers or generous supporters, giving their time, talents and their own money to support this vital cause* 

We've got Christmas all wrapped up!

The ‘Let’s do it for ME’ elves have been very busy recently, and with Christmas not far away they thought they’d give you a helping hand.  All their hard work has paid off and we can now offer fantastic Christmas cards, calendars and gifts - all available to buy from the comfort of your home and delivered directly to your door.  Well, we did say we had it wrapped!  What’s more, you’ll be helping us too, since all purchases will raise much needed funds towards biomedical ME research.

Many thanks to all our little elves that have been working behind the scenes to make this happen.  Let’s do it for Christmas and ME!

Cards:

Following our very successful ‘Let’s Get Snapping for ME! 2012 Christmas Cards Photo Competition,’ we are pleased to announce that in the end 10 photographs were chosen to be printed.  All cards are A5 in size and produced on top quality 350gsm card.  They come in packs containing 10 cards, either featuring one design or all 10.  Please specify if ordering packs of individual designs.  All cards have the following message inside, ‘With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year’.  Prices per pack (including postage and packaging) are: 

UK £4.25

Europe £6.25

Rest of the World £7.25  

To order cards and for more information visit: http://www.investinme.org/Christmas%202012.htm 

Calendars:  

Our 2013 A4 calendar is now available and features 12 stunning photos, one for each month, of places all around the UK.   These were kindly donated by those with ME and supporters of our campaign.  There’s a generous grid for each month, handy for writing in those forthcoming appointments and events.  This is a quality product, with both the front and back cover of 350gsm card and the inner pages of 200gsm paper.  This makes it not only perfect for yourself, but a great gift too.  Prices per calendar (including postage and packaging) are:

UK £7.00

Europe £9.00

Rest of the World £10.00 

To order calendars and for more information visit: http://www.investinme.org/Christmas%202012.htm

  

  

From handmade decorations and toys to jewellery, we’ve got it all!  Introducing just some of the extensive range made by our crafty elves: 

Christmas decorations:



Santa stocking decoration  http://www.facebook.com/Maddikentbracelets4me 

Bird decoration http://folksy.com/shops/100Birdies4ME 

Both sellers feature on http://www.facebook.com/makeme#!/MakeMECrafts, a dedicated Facebook page with lots of crafties selling their wares in aid of our campaign. 

Handmade toys: 







Toy Owl: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.429092600442070.103776.408438105840853&type=3 

(This is not suitable for very young children because of the risk of choking due to its button eyes.)

Toy Ponies: http://www.makemecrafts.com/A-Scruffy-Pony-for-ME.html

Handmade jewellery:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.410552555629408.101119.408438105840853&type=3

There’s lots more jewellery sold by a number of sellers on the Make ME website

http://www.makemecrafts.com/jewellery/
and Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.429092600442070.103776.408438105840853&type=3#!/MakeMECrafts/photos_albums. 

  

Something for the boys:           
        

  

Paracord LDi4ME Wristband, available in various colourways and designs http://www.makemecrafts.com/LDIFME-Awareness-Ribbon-Wristband.html

Lanyard (ID holder and cord) http://www.makemecrafts.com/lanyards/

Soft furnishings:

http://www.facebook.com/Maddikentbracelets4me#!/media/set/?set=a.219270998200858.53289.190772114384080&type=3

Clothing:

There are some great 'Let’s do it for ME' clothing available in our online shop http://ldifme.spreadshirt.co.uk.  As well as more ME and Fibromyalgia inspired designs in both Carmel’s online shops http://653855.spreadshirt.co.uk/ and http://shop.cafepress.co.uk/m.e-awareness.  The cafepress shop even has ladies nightwear and iPhone cases.  Or why not take a look at Mama Chill's shop http://616915.spreadshirt.co.uk/.

Books, CDs and Audio Downloads:

Running To Stand Still - Audio play about ME available on CD and to download: http://ldifme.org/running-to-stand-still/ 

Many Happy Returns – Downloadable audio sci-fi drama: http://ldifme.org/many-happy-returns/

Mama Chill’s downloadable single: http://ldifme.org/mama-chill-single/

Lost Voices - Book: http://www.investinme.org/LostVoicesBook/IiME%20Lost%20Voices%20home.htm

All card and calendar images are copyrighted to Invest in ME/Let's do it for ME for the photograph owners

Christmas Tree design © Gummy231 Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos