Two Bude sisters have raised an incredible amount for the hardworking NHS staff during the COVID 19 crisis by recently having their heads shaved for the charity.
Jodie French and Anouska Woolf (both previously Windsor) may have been separated geographically during this period of uncertainty, but they decided that they could be united in this.
Jodie, who now lives in Sandy, Bedfordshire, initially came up with the idea for the head shave on April 1 after feeling that she’d like to make a difference during these difficult and unprecedented times. Once her sister had got over the shock of it and realised that this wasn’t an April fool’s joke, Anouska, who lives at Week St Mary, decided to join Jodie in her hair-brained idea. By the following morning the online donations page was set up and the two sisters were ready to go!
Over the next few days, the ladies we’re quickly inundated with sponsors and messages of support from family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. As word spread on social media the sponsors kept on coming in easily doubling their target of £300.
On the morning of the event Anouska posted a video message to their followers. She said: “We have had so many generous donations and wonderful messages of support with lots of people saying how brave we are, which is lovely, because this morning we’re feeling pretty nervous. But I’ve got to be honest, I don’t actually think it’s that brave to shave your head.
“What I think is brave is going out to work and help people, strangers that you don’t know. They’re infected with this contagious virus and you are doing everything that you can to help them.
“Selflessly, often without the correct Personal Protective Equipment, not knowing whether you’ll expose yourselves or your families to the same. Sometimes having to be separate from them. Not able to hug your children or share a room with your spouse in case they get infected. Now that’s Brave! We are feeling a bit useless stuck at home, but we wanted to make a difference so here we are!”
The girls posted videos and photos of their head shaves which took place later that day carried out by their families in their own homes and have continued to be ‘blown away by everyone’s generosity’.
The current total at the time of writing stands at over £2,000.
Anouska and Jodie are amazed by the response and never dreamed they would be able to raise so much.
“It just shows how passionate everyone feels about supporting those NHS workers. All pulling together and making a difference in the difficult and challenging circumstances that we all face.”
The page is still open so if you would like to donate go to uk.virginmoneygiving.com and search for Going all Britney or visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/GoingallBritney