Smile Group “Say it without flowers!”

Cheshire East based perinatal mental health support charity, Smile Group, launched its ‘Say it Without Flowers‘ fundraising campaign on Mother’s Day.

Struggling with the tough funding climate, the charity had been forced to reduce its service offering, leaving vulnerable families without the support they need.

When a few parents, who worked at local advertising agency, McCann Manchester, saw its plight they offered to help, kickstarting the ‘Say it Without Flowers’ campaign.

Launched over Mother’s Day weekend, the campaign saw an invisible flower stall pop up on Castle Street in Macclesfield The pop-up provided a unique opportunity for Macclesfield folk to purchase an ‘Invisible Bouquet’ by simply scanning a QR code. Each and every transaction, the equivalent of a bouquet of flowers, was a vital donation for the perinatal mental health support charity.

Founded by Natalie Nutall and Ruth Williams back in 2011, the Smile Group have first-hand experience of perinatal mental health challenges and quickly identified a gap in community support. 13 years on, Smile Group strives to create a safe, non-judgmental space, in which parents can connect with peers and benefit from a combination of services.

Ruth Williams, co-founder and operations director at Smile Group, said: “This is a really challenging climate for vital charity services like ours. The need for our peer support groups, talk therapy and home visits programme is consistently high, so we’re working hard to underpin our sustainability. We turn 13 on Mother’s Day, so this campaign is a lovely way to show support and recognise the importance of essential community services for families at what can be an extremely vulnerable time in their lives.”

Also supportive of the launch of the campaign was local florist, Presbury Flowers. Over the weekend, customers visiting the shop were given the option to add an ‘Invisible Bouquet’ to their order and donate vital funds to Smile.

Elsewhere, the Say it Without Flowers fundraising initiative was brought to life through a 48-sheet billboard, situated on Macon Way in Crewe.

So far, Smile’s Crowdfunder has raised over £6,000. If you wish to donate, please click here.

For more information about Smile, please visit www.smilegroup.org