Fundraising Dinner Raises an Incredible £23K for Nomad

Nomad Youth & Community project hosted their third annual fundraising dinner at The Relais Henley hotel on Thursday evening and raised an incredible £23,000.

Over 80 guests enjoyed a drinks reception followed by a delicious three-course dinner organised by long-term supporter of the charity, Chris Ward.

Tim Prior, Nomad Team Manager said, “Thank you to Chris for again helping to organise this dinner.  Also thank you to Grace, Craig and the team at The Relais for hosting us once more – this is a great venue.  It’s good to see some familiar faces supporting Nomad again tonight and also fantastic to see some new people joining us for the first time.  Now in our third year, we were blown away by the generosity and kindness of those who attended the event last year as we raised with match-funding, £17,000 . Since 1996 Nomad have been working at grass roots level helping young people, families and individuals in our community who find themselves in various forms of challenge, difficulty, anxiety and hardship.”

Tim went on to explain the work that Nomad does and what the money raised goes towards which includes providing a food bank, 1 to 1 support for parents and families in crisis, getting vulnerable young people off the streets and engaged in positive activities such as weekly youth club and holiday initiatives, weekly mentoring programmes in schools and community initiatives that include community days and day trips.

The live auction, Heads & Tails and a Raffle included some wonderful prizes including a private chef dining experience, cocktail making masterclass, a tour and tasting session of 100 Hills Vineyard, lunch in the Directors’ Lounge and match tickets for Reading FC and a one day tour of the Cotswolds in a selection of classic cars.

Chris Ward said afterwards, “I have been connected with Nomad for over 10 years helping them with their profile and fundraising events. About 4 years ago I had the idea of doing a fundraising Dinner to raise awareness and well needed funds from mainly local people who I thought would be interested in Nomad and the good work it does for the people of Henley who need their support. The Dinners have got better and better each year and thanks to the support of people like Grace Leo & her team at the Relais and various guest speakers, sponsors and people giving generously to the auction either as a provider or buyer it is now a firmly established part of the annual Nomad fundraising programme. I like to think that Nomad is a local charity supporting local people supported by local people.”

Craig Sands, General Manager at The Relais added, “We were delighted to be asked to host the Nomad Fundraising dinner again and support this very important local charity, which make such a difference to those who need support in times of need.”