1 Apr 2020
Community raises more than £700 for charity during lockdown after staging networking and CPD event online.
James Westgate
Job Title
Simon Howard and Katie Ford.
Resourceful members of the VETstagram community have shown they refuse to be beaten by the coronavirus pandemic after raising more than £700 for Vetlife.
An online collective of vets, nurses, techs, assistants, students, applicants, practice managers and reception team members, VETstagram is a platform with members across the UK and beyond.
The group had planned to meet in Manchester on 21 March for a networking and CPD fund-raiser, but the event had to be scrapped due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
However, rather than cut its losses and give up, the VETstagram decided to press on regardless and host the event online instead.
Organiser Katie Ford said: “We didn’t want to let anyone down, so decided to make it into a virtual event, but with less than a week to organise (and with a full week of locum work booked too), I’ve got to thank everyone.
“Thanks to Ebony Escalona for the encouragement and faith that we could make it work. Also, thank you to our sponsors, JHP Recruitment and Gorilla Accounting, who were still completely behind us, even with a complete change of plan.”
The event proved to be a massive success, with a host of guest speakers, including Dr Escalona, Elle Payne, Rory Cowlam, Cat Henstridge, Ben Sweeney, Paul Horwood and Laura Sullivan.
Topics included building online communities, social media mindset, Q and As, habit forming, sustainability and financial tips. The group also watched videos collated from members of the community across the world, including contributors from Australia, Canada, the US and Germany.
