The Beatson Cancer Charity saw a boost in its donations despite the snowy weather last week
An impromptu fundraising campaign raised thousands of pounds for a Scottish charity by taking advantage of the freak weather conditions.
A snowstorm last week – dubbed the Beast from the East – resulted in deserted high streets and closed offices around the country.
However the Beatson Cancer Charity saw a flurry of donations after a quick thinking staff member invented a new social media craze.
The Snow Angel Challenge was created by the charity’s volunteer coordinator Paul Sheerin, who decided to leap in the snow wearing just his underwear and make a ‘snow angel’ shape. In a similar format to the Ice Bucket Challenge, he filmed the clip and nominated friends to re-create the challenge.
The challenge went viral after it was taken up by one of the people who Sheerin nominated - former Celtic and Scotland keeper Rab Douglas, who in turn passed it on to other famous footballers and celebrities. Beatson is still assimilating the funds but expects to raise thousands of pounds as a result of the challenge.
“I only really came up with it to raise a couple of hundred quid,” said Sheerin. “I done it the first time and only mentioned family members, but it went down well so I decided to do it again.”
Sheerin, who started working at the Beatson after they supported him when he was fighting testicular and stomach cancer, said he was taken aback by the response to the challenge on social media.
“Rab undertook the challenge then immediately nominated former Celtic players Chris Sutton, John Hartson, Mark Fotheringham and Stilian Petrov. It all kicked off from there.”
People across Scotland went on to jump in snow to raise funds for the charity, and at least £8,000 has been raised so far.
“I just thought I would take advantage of the weather and the opportunity to do something fun to raise money for a good cause,” Sheerin added.
Beatson Cancer Charity's head of fundraising, Morag Cunningham, said: "This is a great idea - it's like the winter version of the Ice Bucket Challenge!
"A lot of people refer to the doctors and nurses at The Beatson as angels, so it seems very appropriate too."
Donations can be made online towards the Snow Angel Challenge.
