Leadership diaries: “I was proud to see this happening and that we were a part of it”.

Lorraine Lewis, co-founder and CEO of the Lewis Foundation discusses her week, in which a charity single is released and there’s a radio takeover.
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Monday

This week is focused on the launch of The Lewis Foundation’s third charity single for World Cancer Day (4.2.23), which this year is a moving rendition of Snow Patrol’s "Chasing Cars".

World Cancer Day is an important date for us because of our work to provide free gifts and care packs to adult cancer patients in 17 hospitals across the Midlands.

Our charity single is led by Singing Solicitor Kevin Rogers, chair of regional law firm Wilson Browne Solicitors, broadcaster John Griff, and talented school pupils, NHS staff, and professionals and musicians in Northamptonshire. It’s a real collaborative effort which has this year been even bigger and stronger than ever.

We were able to kick off the week with our charity ambassador Dr Nighat Arif kindly recording a video for us to share across our social media channels, encouraging people to support the single. We’re thrilled to have Dr Nighat Arif on board a well-known NHS GP, TV doctor and radio presenter who has agreed to use her public profile and social media following to help raise awareness of our work.

Next was a meeting about the live launch event as well as a discussion with Kim Hughes from our PR company Goldings Communications to talk about our plans for the week.

Tuesday

I started the day filming with students from the University of Northamptonshire who are creating a documentary about our charity as part of their final-year project. My husband Lee is co-founder of The Lewis Foundation and is also taking part, so it’s a great opportunity for us to promote what we do.

Today the students were filming at our coffee shop and wanted to interview Lee and I on location.

This was followed by a meeting with two of our corporate partners - Sunbelt Rentals Limited and Carro Transport - about their support of The Lewis Foundation throughout 2023.

Wednesday

As part of our World Cancer Day celebrations, we have also partnered with local Northampton salon Beauty With Inn to host a pamper event to provide free 30-minute treatments for adults with cancer. It was wonderful to see so many people attend for treatments, such as male grooming, manicures and brows. Even though I was there to represent The Lewis Foundation, I was happy to help out on tea and cake duty and was more than happy to wait on the patients who were using this day as a break from endless rounds of treatment.

I also enjoyed speaking with patients about their experiences going through cancer treatment and how it has changed their life. My favourite part was seeing people swap numbers and wanting to stay in touch, as for me it’s so important we help create a community outside of the hospital setting. I was proud to see this happening and that we played a part in it.

Thursday

Our PR company arranged for us to takeover the BBC Radio Northampton Breakfast Show with local reporter Tom Percival to talk about The Lewis Foundation, the charity single and our new charity coffee shop. It was an early 5.30am start, but it was worth it as a lot of people tune in to listen to the breakfast show, and we got to have four five-minute interview slots during the morning.

It was wonderful to have two of our supporters from the charity single Ian Taylor and Beccy Hurrell talk about why they are got involved and one of our volunteers Curtis Archer also shared the story of how our charity supported his mum before she passed away. Lee and I talked about the charity, our coffee shop and our thoughts on the single too, and we had such fantastic feedback afterwards, which helped us gear up for the World Cancer Day celebrations.

Friday

Today were final preparations for the charity single launch and final checks with Kevin and Kim to see if anything else was needed.

That afternoon our charity was hosting a BNI networking launch party for local businesses in Northampton at our coffee shop. We are the group's chosen charity, so it was great to catch up with our supporters and local businesspeople, whilst raising funds for The Lewis Foundation at the same time.

Saturday

Today is World Cancer Day and the live launch of the charity single at Northampton School For Girls. Held in the school’s theatre, we were doing an in-person launch event which was also live-streamed via YouTube thanks to local film production company GiggaBox. We had patients, volunteers and supporters there ready to watch the launch live.

Local BBC Radio Northampton Presenter John Griff interviewed Lee and I, alongside the project lead Kevin Rogers, members of Kettering General Hospital Choir and Northampton School For Girls Choir.

After the interviews was the first-ever screening of the song, which showed the reality of what it is like for someone going through cancer treatment in hospital - loneliness, isolation and boredom. The film showed our charity team walking in with gifts to cheer people up and make them smile. When we do our work, we just crack on with it, but to see it from an outsider perspective really highlighted the impact we make and touched me. Tears were shed!

Then I attended the St Albans Theatre Group who were hosting a panto and we were one of their chosen charities. It definitely made for a busy Saturday!

Sunday

The momentum was continuing with the charity single on social media, and the morning was spent dealing with anyone who wanted information and was asking questions,, and engaging with social posts too. By Sunday afternoon, the single had raised almost £2,000 - an incredible amount for a charity like ours in just 24 hours.

Sunday afternoon was downtime with family before we started all over again on Monday.

The Lewis Foundation charity single is available to watch and listen to here .