Wales & West Housing Group staff donate more than £42,200 to Wales Air Ambulance and Blood Bikes Wales
Two health charities which carry out life-saving missions across Wales will share £42,222 in funding from staff at Wales & West Housing Group (WWHG).
It’s the most money WWHG staff have raised over two years; Wales Air Ambulance (WAA) and Blood Bikes Wales have each received £21,111.
Staff from Wales & West Housing and Cambria Maintenance Services and volunteers from Blood Bikes Wales visited Wales Air Ambulance’s Cardiff Heliport where they were given a tour of the emergency facilities before announcing the money raised to both charities.
The money raised will help WAA to attend eight missions. That’s eight sets of families, friends, neighbours and colleagues who are directly impacted by each mission, so the number of those helped is far greater. The donation may also be used to support patients after their illness or injury, through the charity’s dedicated Patient and Aftercare Service. Many patients who are attended by the all-Wales charity have suffered a traumatic, and often sudden life-altering event, but the dedicated patient liaison nurses can offer ongoing support to patients and their families.
The donation will also cover the cost of putting an extra Blood Bike on the road, which will be named by WWHG staff.
Blood Bikes Wales is a 100% volunteer charity which provides a free motorcycle courier to the NHS throughout Wales delivering blood samples, plasma, donated human milk, medical documents and other items all over Wales. It is completely funded by donations from the public.
Lesley Isaacs-Penny, Vice Chair of Blood Bikes Wales, said: “We are extremely grateful to everyone at the Wales & West Housing Group for their generosity. I believe this is the most money our charity has ever received from public fundraising in one gift.
“Fundraising is harder than ever as we are becoming a more cashless society, so this money will make a huge difference to our work. It will literally keep our wheels turning.”
Lesley Isaacs-Penny, Vice Chair of Blood Bikes Wales
For Wales Air Ambulance, which needs to raise £11.2 million every year to keep its helicopters in the air and rapid response vehicles on the road, the money will help to enable the service to carry out its mission of providing lifesaving, advanced medical care to people across Wales, whenever and wherever they need it.
Phae Jones, Wales Air Ambulance’s Director of Income Generation, said: “We are truly humbled by the support we have received from the Wales & West Housing Group.
“The money raised will make a lifesaving difference to those suffering a life and limb-threatening illness or injury.
“If it wasn’t for the generosity of the people of Wales, our 24/7 service simply wouldn’t exist, and donations like this enable us to serve the people of Wales and save lives.
“Thank you to everyone involved in raising such a staggering amount for us and Blood Bikes Wales.”
“We are truly humbled by the support we have received from the Wales & West Housing Group.”
Phae Jones, Wales Air Ambulance’s Director of Income Generation
Wales & West Housing’s Group Chief Executive, Anne Hinchey, said: “I’m pleased we have been able to support two amazing charities and help them to keep delivering their life-saving work.
“Over the past two years our staff have been so generous and found so many ways to raise money. Annual raffles at Christmas and the Cambria staff conference have continued to raise huge amounts of money.
“On top of that we launched a staff lottery last year, which has grown every month putting an increasing amount of money towards our charity donations. We also started a waste-reduction initiative where staff could buy old company phones, laptops and iPads with the money raised going to help the charities.
“I’m proud of the way all our staff have raised this fantastic amount of money to make such a difference to both charities.”
Anne Hinchey, Wales & West Housing’s Group Chief Executive
Since 2006 WWHG staff have raised more than £200,000 for charities including Mind Cymru, Age Cymru, Stroke Association, Help For Heroes, Alzheimer’s Society, NSPCC, Tenovus and Guide Dogs. They are currently fundraising for four charities – the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association, Cerebral Palsy Wales, Parkinson’s UK Cymru and Cymru Versus Arthritis.
