The Guardian effect
On Wednesday 10th May, our co-founder, Alison Hitchcock, told the story of how writing to fellow co-founder, Brian Greenley, during his cancer treatment changed her. The piece was featured in The Guardian’s ‘A moment that changed me’ and actually led to it being a moment that changed us - From Me to You - because of the impact it had on our profile, bringing people to us who wanted to write and/or receive letters.
Our goal has always been to reach as many people facing cancer as possible, however all too often we hear “I wish I had known about your organisation when I was receiving treatment”.
Thanks to the Guardian’s exposure of our cause, we reached people who didn’t know we existed, but who now want to get involved with us. In the first week after the piece was published, we received 350+ sign ups to Donate A Letter or Receive A Letter. This is a huge increase on the number we would normally receive in a typical week (10-20). We still have people getting in touch now, having read the piece and wanting to learn more. And our website views went through the roof too!
Our postbag of donated letters has never been so full either and we’ve loved opening the letters and cards donated by new supporters. If you’ve read the piece and want to get involved with our work, we’d love to hear from you.
We’re delighted that the piece also included details of our new book ‘From Me, To You’. On publication of The Guardian, we saw our Amazon ratings soar as books sold after readers went online to get their copies. The book follows the letters which Alison wrote to Brian during his cancer treatment and recovery. Brian’s private journal entries - which track this same time for him - are published alongside the letters. It’s a real mix of raw, heartbreaking honesty from Brian and laugh out loud stories from Alison. It’s available to buy on Amazon, with all proceeds from the sales being donated to us by our publisher, Spellbound.
We’re also fundraising to donate our books to cancer centres and hospitals across the UK. Just £6 will get a book into the hands of someone who might benefit from reading it. If you’re in a position to help us with this, we’d be very grateful of a donation. Thank you.