The Garwood Foundation, the South Croydon charity which runs a special school, day centres and residential care, has just bagged an extra £800 towards its latest fund-raising appeal, thanks to a Knightsbridge influencer who staged a “secret” charity shop designer handbag drop.
Fashion conscious: Hanushka Toni with the designer bags she donated for the Garwood Foundation
Hanushka Toni, of Sellier Knightsbridge, luxury goods re-sellers with half-a-million followers, chose the Garwood charity shop on Selsdon Road for their latest “shop drop” at the end of last month.
This is how it all worked: with the details of date, time and location not released until just before the drop, it was a race to be there and be in with a chance of winning one of four designer bags. As the queue formed up along Selsdon Road, those turning up were given a raffle ticket, and four winners drawn at random.
The designer handbags up for grabs included Louis Vuitton, Chloé, Alexander McQueen and a vintage Chanel. Retailing at several hundred pounds each, and in the case of the vintage Chanel even more, the holders of the winning tickets could purchase the designer bags for £100 each or the vintage Chanel for £500, with proceeds going to the Garwood Foundation’s Space to Thrive appeal.
With the race on to raise the final £100,000 of a £2.5million target in the Space to Thrive appeal, Garwood were thrilled to be involved. “It was a novel way to raise money for our appeal and generated such good feeling and excitement in our community,” said the charity’s Aimee Twomey.
“The atmosphere was buzzing with many social media followers excited to meet Hanushka and the Sellier Knightsbridge team in person, too. Our shop’s brilliant staff are always ready to go above and beyond, and they were particularly happy to see some new faces in store.”
Toni’s bag drops began last year and have been so successful, they were keen to offer more. Having not visited a Garwood store before they “were scared no one would turn up”.
Absolutely fabulous: there were long queues outside the charity shop on Selsdon Road
With the queues past the vape shops, Toni’s team, which included someone on social media (obviously) and a personal assistant, were suitably impressed. “It was amazing! So many lovely buyers and hopefuls and a hidden gem of a charity shop,” they said.
This will complete long-awaited building works at Rutherford School for young adults with profound and multiple disabilities. The works will provide a modernised hydrotherapy pool, an extra classroom to increase student numbers, and accessible community meeting space for everyone.
Works at the Rutherford School are expected to continue until the end of the year, or early 2026, giving an urgency to the raising of the final last funds required to complete the works.
If you’re inspired by Sellier Knightsbridge’s visit to the Garwood charity shop and can help the appeal in any way, visit www.garwoodfoundation.org.uk/space-to-thrive.
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