Argos corporate news
Fundraising begins with Great Trip Home
02 August 2006
Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Irish Cancer Society are joining forces to work on a two year partnership with Homebase which has been titled the ‘No Place Like Home’ campaign. It aims to raise £500,000 which would pay for 25,000 hours of home nursing.
The campaign’s first big fundraising initiative to celebrate the partnership is the ‘Great Trip Home’ which will take place throughout September. It will see staff travel home from work in wacky ways raising funds as they go.
Celine Gomez, Corporate Development Executive, Marie Curie Cancer Care explains why the ‘Great Trip Home’ was chosen to begin the relationship. “Going home is something most of us take for granted but the reality is that only about 20% of terminal cancer patients have the choice to die at home despite the fact that most would rather be cared for there. We decided to begin our relationship with Homebase in this way as it’s a great opportunity to communicate what Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Irish Cancer Society are all about as well as having some fun and raising funds at the same time.”
Each Homebase store has teamed up with its local Marie Curie Cancer Care or Irish Cancer Society fundraising team and all the money raised locally will go to helping care for a patient in the local area.
“The benefits of this relationship will allow us to continue to expand our services and to bring better quality specialist nursing care and assistance to even more patients and their families,” said head of fundraising for the Irish Cancer Society, Jill Clark. “The aim is to help fund care for at least one cancer patient in each of Homebase’s local areas.”
This is the first two year partnership that Homebase has been involved in and Community Affairs Manager Lorna Liggett has high hopes for the relationship. “The partnership is only just launching and we are already seeing great enthusiasm from our store colleagues. We’re confident about meeting our fundraising aims and are glad to be able to support Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Irish Cancer Society in their vital work.”
