28 One Stop stores join forces to sponsor a ‘Big Bear’ in ‘Bears of Sheffield’ trail

One Stop retailers are set to welcome their very own bear, ‘Eyeballs’ this July after raising £5,000 to sponsor a ‘Big Bear’ in the new Bears of Sheffield sculpture trail, organised by The Children’s Hospital Charity, which starts this month.

The trail has galvanized businesses, schools, families, friends, artists and the community to raise vital funds to support the build of a new Cancer and Leukaemia ward at Sheffield’s Children’s Hospital.

The One Stop Bear fundraising drive has been spearheaded by store colleague Gemma Gretton, whose 16-year-old son Rylie, has been treated at the hospital on multiple occasions, after being diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease when he was 11.

“When I heard of the trail it sounded like such a good opportunity to help give something back,” Gretton said. “We’ve supported the hospital before with previous fundraising but this seemed like a great way to join lots of our One Stop stores to raise funds together.”

A total 28 local One Stop stores worked as a team to raise the £5,000 of funds needed to sponsor a ‘Big Bear’ in the trail, from selling merchandise to holding raffles. The trail will comprise of 60 ‘Big Bears’, standing at 2.1m tall, which have all been sponsored, as well as 100 ‘Little Bears’ which have been fundraised for and decorated by schools, nurseries and colleges.

Gretton continued: “Rylie raised money with his school, Dukeries Academy, in Nottinghamshire to have his own smaller bear so it’s been great to see how engaged he has been to raise money for the hospital which has helped him so much and where he has spent much of his childhood years.

“Fundraising for the hospital has always been close to my heart as I’ve experienced first-hand how much they help children and their families. When we’re in the hospital everyone is always so friendly, and they make us feel part of a wider family.

“I’m proud as a One Stop colleague that I belong to an organisation that cares so much about local and wider initiatives and I can’t wait to see our ‘Big Bear’ on the trail.”

Gretton and her family were able to choose the bear ‘Eyeballs’ which was designed by Fozz, a local skateboarder. The bear has a striking pattern of eyes which appealed to the family and should be extremely ‘eye-catching’ when it joins all the other bears!

The ‘Bears of Sheffield’ will build on the ‘Herds of Sheffield’ initiative which ran in 2016 and raised over £600,000 for the hospital, when a herd of elephant sculptures took over the city. This year’s fundraising comes at a vital time for the hospital as the Covid-19 pandemic has caused the charity’s fundraising to fall by around 35 per cent in the last financial year, a decline of £1.3 million.

Liz Fox, head of sustainability and social responsibility at One Stop, commented: “It’s absolutely brilliant to see the One Stop Bear finished in all its glory and we couldn’t be prouder of the amount of effort that Gemma and our One Stop colleagues have made in securing funding. Our huge thanks to the generosity of our customers who have contributed over the past few months and always dig deep when we raise funds for different causes.”

After the trail is complete, each little bear will be returned to its school, nursery or college as a permanent memento of the project. The big bears will be auctioned off at a special event to raise funds for Sheffield Children’s Hospital.