21 September 2011

Show Us Your Best Side - Photo Competition!

*See our later post for a competition update and the new improved Let's do it for ME! signs - Photo Competition Update.

The level of support and enthusiasm for Invest in ME's proposal for a UK centre for biomedical research and treatment for myalgic encephalomyelitis, since Let's do it for ME! launched a few weeks ago, has been truly inspiring, and has given hope to many of the ME sufferers, their families and friends who have heard about it so far. This can be seen by the amazing comments left in our Guestbook, the donations made so far, and the many on-going fund-raising events set up to benefit it.

We wish to take this opportunity to thank everyone supporting this campaign, which aims to raise the £100,000 necessary to open the centre.

Our other aim is to generate publicity that will raise awareness of ME, the need for biomedical research, and the proposed UK centre - so we'd like to make sure that this support is as visible as possible. We feel the best way to do this is to enlist your help by asking as many supporters as are able to send us your photos.

There are no specific requirements - you do not need to suffer from ME yourself or have a loved one that suffers - the only requirement is that you support our campaign and Invest in ME's proposal for a UK centre for biomedical ME research and treatment.

Your help in making an invisible illness more visible will be greatly appreciated.

So, are you ready for your close up? Then send us a photo showing that you support our campaign!

To make it easy to show your support, we have made the following signs for you to print-out.



But we encourage those who wish to be creative to make your own signs or find other ways to show you support the campaign - it might be a photo of you at your fund-raising event for example.

There is no deadline for photos to be sent to us, as we'd like supporters to keep sending them in as the campaign progresses, but to help get our album off to a flying start the most inspired photo sent in by midnight 31st October will also receive a special prize. The winner will be announced early in November and will have a choice of Let's do it for ME! products, including a teddy bear, t-shirt or mug!

Send your photos in to us at fundraising4me@gmail.com, along with your name, age (if under 16) and any other details you are happy for us to share publicly.

We feel it is important to allow young people to show they are behind this campaign but if you are under 16 please seek permission from a parent or guardian before you send in your photo(s) and provide us with their contact details (Name, Address, Telephone No. and Email Address) as we cannot use your photo(s) without this permission.

Your photos will be added to the Let's do it for ME! web-album and displayed on our website. By sending us your photos you will be helping to raise awareness of a debilitating neurological disease that afflicts 250,000 people in the UK, 25,000 of which are children, and to give hope to sufferers, their families and friends.

So are you feeling inspired and ready to Show Us Your Best Side? Let's do it for ME!


Thank you so much for your support, we look forward to receiving your photos!
Team LDIFME



*For more details on the proposal for the centre see A UK Centre or download The Invest in ME Steering Group Proposal for a ME Research Facility. We will also have more details on the proposal and its progress soon. The Let's do it for ME! awareness and fund-raising campaign is run by ME sufferers in close cooperation with the charity Invest in ME. Your donations go directly to Invest in ME and towards the UK Centre. See this campaign highlighted on the Invest in ME website here.