Anavo Launches Biggest Fundraising Challenge for Care Workers

This September, residents, colleagues, families and communities across Anavo will come together for our biggest fundraising challenge to date – ‘Miles That Matter’.

Taking place from 12th–19th September during Care Workers Week, the Anavo-wide challenge will see every home get moving to collectively travel 500 miles (the distance between all Anavo homes) and raise £10,000 for our Charity of the Year, The Care Workers’ Charity.

From walking and cycling to dancing and supported movement, ‘Miles That Matter’ has been designed so everyone can play a part, with each home creating its own activities to contribute towards the total.

Every home getting involved

Across many Anavo homes, residents and colleagues will take on the ‘Anavo Trail’ challenge, completing laps of gardens, courtyards and corridors, while several homes will clock up additional miles through ‘Dance Around the World’ challenge, using dancing, seated movement and exercise to get involved.

Other activities range from a danceathon, sponsored fancy-dress walk and cycling challenge at Alexandra Mill, to community and cross-country walks at Spiers and Hailsham House.

At Sandstone Brook, colleagues will walk the canal from Nantwich towards the home, while residents take on their own garden trail. Wessex Lodge will combine walking, cycling and dancing with its very own Wessex Derby, and Surbitonian Gardens will bring fundraising into its Mill Cottage Farm Experience.

Ranfurly and Cochrane will join forces for a route around both homes, complete with hydration stations and an inter-unit challenge to see which team can clock up the most miles.

Meanwhile, Brampton Lodge has set itself a 100-mile target, with walking pads and an exercise bike in reception, daily resident and client walks, and a final community walk at Walton Gardens.

The challenge is also bringing our homes closer to their local communities, with many of our teams working alongside local gyms, charities and organisations to borrow equipment for the week. Exercise bikes and other accessible equipment will help residents and colleagues clock up miles from within the home, making sure even more people can get involved in a way that works for them.

Taking the challenge even further

Anavo’s Senior Leadership Team will also be getting involved, including one of the biggest challenges of the week – a 260-mile cycle between Anavo homes.

Ed and Jamie, Anavo’s founders and Chris, Anavo’s Development Director, will set off from Brampton Lodge on 16th September, with residents, clients and colleagues giving them a special send-off before they begin three days of cycling and almost 6,000 feet of elevation.

Their route will take them via Alexandra Mill, Sandstone Brook, Berehill House and Wessex Lodge before finishing at Homewell Spring in Havant, Anavo’s new care home opening in October 2026.

Simon, Anavo’s Commercial Director is taking on a half marathon with a group Anavo managers and other members of the Senior Leadership Team including Regional Managers will join activities across the week, supporting homes and adding their own miles to the challenge.

Every mile matters

Miles That Matter is about more than reaching 500 miles. It’s an opportunity to bring residents, colleagues, families and local communities together while raising funds and awareness for The Care Workers’ Charity, which supports people working across the social care sector.

Whether it’s a resident completing a lap of the garden, a team dancing together, families joining a community walk or colleagues cycling between homes, every contribution will move us closer to our goal.

And there is a little friendly competition too. The home that clocks up the most miles will receive a cash prize towards a wellbeing initiative of its choice, creating a lasting benefit for the team beyond the challenge.

Help us reach £10,000

We’ve set ourselves an ambitious target of raising £10,000 for The Care Workers’ Charity, and we’d love your support to help us get there.

You can sponsor a resident taking on their own challenge, get behind one of our home or community events, support our Senior Leadership Team, or simply donate to Miles That Matter as a whole. However you choose to support us, every donation will help us move closer to our target and raise vital funds for people working across social care. To donate, please click here.