Helen Skelton is supporting P&G and Sainsbury’s #HelpUsHelpThem campaign raising funds for The Royal British Legion and Poppyscotland. From 11th October to 21st November Sainsbury’s shoppers can buy selected P&G Health & Beauty products – including Oral B, Olay, Gillette & Pantene - in store or online and trigger a donation. 1 pack = 1 donation. To mark the start of the campaign, we spoke to Helen to ask her why it's so important to do charity work when you’re a celebrity.
Helen Skelton
In my job, I’m lucky I get to meet a lot of people from all walks of life, it gives you a great perspective. It makes you appreciate things that are easy to take for granted.
I am such an emotional person it's impossible for me to say no to a good cause if logistics allow.
If I can inspire someone to get involved in a campaign like P&G and Sainsbury’s ‘Help us, help them’ campaign; where a donation is made to The Royal British Legion and Poppyscotland every time you buy participating P&G health and beauty products exclusively at Sainsbury’s stores or online, then that is a good day!
With this campaign I’m looking to mums, to families, to get involved and just add to their baskets the products which are likely to be on their shopping list anyway, the everyday things like Pantene shampoo and conditioner and Oral B toothpaste. I didn't realise how many people The Royal British Legion and Poppyscotland help in so many different ways. From financial help and assisting veterans with their day-to-day lives, to care homes and counselling. One of the things that really struck a chord with me was the support they give families with respite care at their Break Centres - giving families a bit of time together when they often spend so long apart.
I think we can all have a very personal link to charities but at the end of the day it’s pretty simple, I’d like to think that if I can help someone now, they might return the favour if I was ever in need. If I wasn't using my social media channels to support this brilliant cause I would probably just be instagramming pictures of my dog which is a lot less productive.
It feels good to help others. When you know that someone has been helped even on the smallest scale and their life is just a bit easier – that’s a wonderful feeling for us all to have. And with the ‘Help us, help them’ campaign people are being asked to do what they would normally do - there's no need to fundraise or do a marathon. Just shop.
I love getting to know the people behind the scenes at charities. I have spent time with The Royal British Legion team and was amazed at how much they do for the 6.7 million people in the Armed Forces community, the list of services and support they offer (even long after leaving the military life) is so long and quite overwhelming. Global news can be so depressing it's good to remind ourselves the world is full of good people doing good things.
On a very personal level my Grandad was in the Army and served with the Border Fusiliers and my cousin’s husband served with Commando 29. I can appreciate the difficult circumstances military families and individuals find themselves in – so getting involved was a bit of a no brainer.
It might sound a bit hippyish but I am a big believer in positive energy and I think we should put out to universe the kind of energy we want our friends and our families to get back.
I’ve got two young boys who are probably a bit too young at the moment to understand but I like to think I can set an example to them and also to others, that getting involved when we can, is a great thing to do.
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