The Burlington Home Manager Raises £1,200 for Crossroads Care Surrey

Margielyn Gonzaga, Home Manager of The Burlington Care Home in Shepperton, has raised £1,200 for Crossroads Care Surrey after completing a full day of Bushtucker-style challenges at this year's I'm a Director, Get Me Out of Here! event.

On Friday 12th June, Care Home Manage, Margielyn stepped into the jungle at The Laithwaite Community Stadium in Woking to take on one of Surrey's most demanding charity fundraising events, and she left with sore muscles, a gunge-soaked kit, and £1,200 raised for Surrey's unpaid carers.

The annual event, organised by Crossroads Care Surrey, invites business leaders from across the county to face a series of challenges inspired by the hit ITV show, all in support of the estimated 120,000 unpaid carers across Surrey who the charity supports through respite services.

For Margie, the day was nothing short of full-on. It opened with a creepy crawlies challenge that saw her holding a tarantula. It escalated from there. Obstacle courses followed, then an archery challenge where her very first arrow went clean through the target. Then came three rounds of eating challenges including chicken hearts and feet with fish eye and fish egg tapioca pudding for dessert. The finale arrived in the form of a bucket of gunge, after her Pink Team narrowly missed out on the win.

Through all of it, she kept going.

"I genuinely did not know what I was getting myself into," said Margielyn Gonzaga. "Holding a tarantula, eating things I'd rather not name, ending the day covered in gunge, none of that was on my bingo card when I signed up. But honestly? I'd do it again. Family carers carry so much, quietly, and often without a second thought for themselves. They look after loved ones at home without a professional team around them, and they do it every single day. If a very uncomfortable Friday is what it takes to raise money for the people who do that, it feels like the least I can do. A huge thank you to everyone who donated and cheered us on. It meant more than you know."

The achievement carries particular meaning for those at The Burlington. As General Manager, Margie works daily alongside residents, families, and the wider network of carers who support people through later life. Unpaid carers sit at the heart of that system, and Crossroads Care Surrey gives them the breathing space to carry on.

Boutique Care Homes founder Ameet Kotecha previously took on the same event himself, and Margie followed in that tradition by stepping up this year.

"I've done this event myself, so I know exactly what Margie walked into on Friday, and knowing what's coming doesn't make it any easier," said Ameet Kotecha, Founder and Managing Director of Boutique Care Homes. "What she did takes real courage, and she did it for the right reasons. Margie didn't just raise £1,200. She stood up and said that unpaid family carers matter. That's exactly who she is, and it's exactly what The Burlington is built on. Incredibly proud of her."

The £1,200 raised will go directly to Crossroads Care Surrey to fund respite services for unpaid carers across the county.

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