Charity Cruises Towards ‘Destination Florida’ with Technology Support from Midshire

Office technology provider Midshire^® is supporting children’s charity, Destination Florida, with cost effective, innovative technology to help in their effort to give children with life threatening and life limiting illnesses, the ‘holiday of a lifetime’ to Florida.

Based in Eccles, Manchester, the charity organises the life-enhancing biennial trips to Florida, occurring every two years, for up to 75 children from all over the UK. With the costs of their next trip in 2018 expected to be £450,000, the charity relies heavily on fundraising as well as support from businesses to help reduce running costs.

After analysing Destination Florida’s technology needs, Midshire provided a Sharp MX-2610 A3 multifunction printer on a Managed Print Service contract as well as three hosted desktop licences on Midshire’s Desktop Monster^® platform.

Destination Florida’s Operations Director, Paul Bailey comments: “Companies like Midshire make our target achievable, the services they have provided will give Destination Florida a cost-effective solution, developing our fundraising and administrative requirements as we get closer to take-off.”

The Sharp MX-2610 was chosen as it’s high quality output allows their creative team to save money by printing all leaflets, flyers, and posters in-house. Additionally, the multifunction printer has an ‘eco-mode’ setting, which temporarily reduces print quality for documents that don’t need to be high-quality, a very useful feature for an organisation that needs to make every penny count.

Destination Florida took advantage of a 30-day free trial of Desktop Monster, to ensure the hosted desktop platform met their exact needs before committing. Destination Florida benefits from Desktop Monster’s special discounted rates for charities, ensuring their IT needs are met without breaking the bank.
Additionally, Desktop Monster has removed the need for the charity to invest in expensive on-site servers, the latest laptops and costly IT support contracts.

Technology Sales Manager at Midshire, Stuart Carruthers says:“The work done by Destination Florida is wonderful. The charity not only sends the children on a holiday of a lifetime, but also gives the parents or guardians a well-deserved respite, and added peace of mind in knowing that their child will have access to the best 24-hour care. I am delighted that we have been able to support them”

Destination Florida provides each child with an 8-day holiday, with entry to all the
major theme parks such as the Animal Kingdom and Universal Studios. High
quality medical and pastoral care is provided to the children by 110 adults, through the provision of carers and a ‘mobile hospital’ consisting of doctors, nurses and physiotherapists

Paul Bailey continues: “Our next trip takes place in November 2018, and I’d be delighted to hear from anyone who’s interested in helping our amazing charity reach its challenging target. Every donation really does help.”

To reach the large financial target, Destination Florida relies on their dedicated supporters taking part in extensive fundraising activities, such as the Great Manchester 10k and Half Marathon, and the Manchester to Liverpool Bike Ride.

The charity’s largest fundraising venture is the Summer Ball. This year, the ball is held at the Mere Golf Resort on the 24th June, with entertainment from actor and comedian Brian Conley. Midshire has booked a table of 10 for the event.

To donate to Destination Florida or find out how to volunteer, please follow the link http://bit.ly/2phxmwx