Happy Beanie Time Everyone!
As the cold weather kicks in Evolution reflects on the sunny weather back in March before the whole world changed with COVID-19 and winter came upon us .
Over $65K was raised for the Mark Hughes Foundation at the 2020 Evolution Charity Cup held as part of the 35th Surfest Newcastle. Taking the total of funds raised by this unique event to more than $250 000 over the past three years. Good people once again coming together trying to find a cure for brain cancer, enjoying each other’s company and having a few laughs along the way.
Now Beanie time is upon us and Evolution is hoping as many people as possible up-date their winter head wear with a 2020 MHF design.
No doubt about it, for the MHF team this is the most exciting time of the year! And mountains have certainly been moved for this campaign to go ahead!!
Let Mark Hughes in his own words take you on a little journey…150,000 beanies were ordered in early January. We had picked some great designs, introduced a kid’s beanie and were all very excited for the year ahead. Fast forward a couple of months and the entire world is in lockdown due to a global pandemic. Who could’ve predicted that! With all non-essential services closed down, MHF were fast losing hope that the 2020 Beanie Campaign would go ahead at all. You can’t have a Beanie Campaign without Beanies!! Then the NRL season was brought to a sudden halt after round 2 and, as most of you know, the support from the Rugby League community plays a major role in our success.
COVID-19 has been such a tumultuous time for everyone involved with lives changing instantly - whether through ill health, loss of jobs and income or homeschooling. Although we did keep perspective in all of this and were thankful for our health and grateful for the country we live in, we were wondering what else could go wrong for our major fundraiser of the year.
Fast forward a couple of months and thanks to the amazing team at Aura Creative Products our beanies finally made it to our shores. Not without a last-minute hick-up which saw one of the ships have to reroute due to the large swell and dangerous seas sweeping across the East Coast of Australia. Our last shipment made it to us Saturday 30th May... 2 days before kick-off of our 2020 Beanie Campaign.
Like I have said before, whether it’s trekking up Mount Everest or Mount Kilimanjaro it’s not the destination but the journey. It certainly has been a journey in 2020 you could say, but we never gave up or lost sight of our quest to raise funds to tackle brain cancer and I’m so proud of everyone involved.
I need to say a huge thank you to the amazing team at Aura - who managed the whole process from the creative concept/liaising with the manufacturers/quality control and finally the distribution to our supplier with great guidance and expertise.
Now we just need to move 150,000 beanies! If you are in a position to buy a beanie again this year, we sincerely thank you. We understand not everyone will be. Furthermore, if you can encourage your family and friends to support us in our quest that would be amazing too.
We love our new beanies and know you will too. I really can’t express my gratitude to our loyal supporters... who are with us in the trenches no matter what. We have no choice but to keep going despite what gets thrown our way. People are still being diagnosed with brain cancer... and sadly some won’t make it through this week.
So grab your beanie and let’s smash our fundraising target of 1.5 million. Actually... let’s raise that bar to 2 million!!!! I was being conservative under the circumstances but when tough times take hold tough people shine through. Let’s do this! - Mark Hughes
So what are you waiting for! Check out the fabulous 2020 designs - leopard, black and our brand new kids' beanies - and get shopping online or in store today!