Over recent weeks, I have put a tremendous amount of time, effort and personal expense into developing Reggie’s 95 EUROSPAR Challenge and the Bring Back the Good wristband campaign.
The challenge grew from my viral EUROSPAR video, which is approaching a quarter of a million views. After receiving permission to fundraise for Cancer Fund for Children, I created the website and promotional materials, contacted stores and travelled to Fintona and Carrickmore to begin the challenge.
Unfortunately, despite all that work, the public support and store participation needed to make the campaign sustainable have not materialised. The only £25 donation to the GoFundMe came from my personal friend and koi dealer, and only two wristbands have been sold.
For complete transparency, the £25 GoFundMe donation and every penny received from those two wristband sales will be forwarded to Cancer Fund for Children as originally promised. I remain grateful for the donation and purchases, and I have enormous respect for the charity and the wonderful work it does.
However, I must also be realistic about my own health and wellbeing. I live with the effects of a liver transplant, diabetes, heart-valve replacement and mental-health difficulties, while my family also has a very personal connection to autism and additional needs. Continuing with the original challenge without the necessary support would leave me increasingly exhausted and further out of pocket.
I have therefore decided to bring the EUROSPAR challenge and its associated Cancer Fund for Children fundraiser to a close.
This is not the end of Bring Back the Good—it is a new and much more personal beginning.
The message behind the wristbands means a great deal to me. Bringing back the good is about choosing kindness, looking towards the future and refusing to remain trapped by confrontation or negativity. I have already invested too much belief and effort in that message to abandon it.
Going forward, Bring Back the Good will support Kinder Meadows, my special-needs project. This is a cause deeply connected to my family, my experiences and the community I want to help. All future wristband fundraising will be clearly identified as supporting Kinder Meadows.
Sometimes taking a step back allows you to see the right way forward. I genuinely believe this is the right direction for both the campaign and me.
Thank you to everyone who supported the original fundraiser in any way. I hope you will join me as Bring Back the Good begins its next chapter—one built around kindness, inclusion and supporting people with additional needs.
Brian Campbell
The Wee Derry Prod