Well done to Scotmid Co-operative’s staff and customers, who have raised £370,000 for Anthony Nolan during a year-long partnership with the blood cancer charity.
This is the highest total Scotmid has raised during a charity partnership and will go towards recruiting thousands of lifesaving stem cell donors from Scotmid areas.
Scotmid Co-operative, and its brands Semichem, Lakes & Dales Co-operative and Scotmid Co-operative Funeral Directors, worked in partnership with Anthony Nolan from September 2014 until August 2015.
The partnership was a ‘lifesaving match’ for people with blood cancer, raising funds and awareness for Anthony Nolan, which runs the UK bone marrow register and carries out pioneering research to save more lives.
To represent the heroic nature of the partnership, a superheroes theme was chosen.
Nearly 5,000 staff members from more than 350 stores turned into ‘The Scotmid Lifesavers’ for the year, teaming up with their communities to attempt to raise a target of £200,000 for Anthony Nolan.
The Scotmid Lifesavers reached the impressive total by taking part in everything from head shaves to bungee jumps.
Members of Scotmid staff also braved The Forth Loony Dook, and hair-raising Ice Bucket Challenges. Others designed and sold their own cook book and took part in food tastings.
Such was the success of the partnership that they hugely exceeded the target and raised £370,000.
Henny Braund, Anthony Nolan’s Chief Executive, said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to Scotmid, their members and their customers for raising such an incredible amount of money for Anthony Nolan. We are extremely grateful for their efforts and have very much enjoyed working with their passionate and caring team, from head office to the local stores.
“The money Scotmid raised will help us save lives by adding thousands more potential donors to our bone marrow register from Scotmid’s retail areas – Scotland, North of England and Northern Ireland.
“These local heroes could be the only lifesaving match for someone with blood cancer – someone who would otherwise have no other chance to live. This partnership has given people hope for the future by providing many more chances of finding a cure.”
To engage staff and customers in the ‘heroic’ partnership, the blood cancer charity drew upon its wealth of strong human interest case studies, featuring donors and survivors local to Scotmid areas in fundraising and press materials.
John Brodie, Chief Executive of Scotmid Co-operative, said: “I am immensely proud of the hard work, determination and commitment of our staff, customers and members in raising this record breaking amount on behalf of Anthony Nolan.
“It’s clear that Anthony Nolan’s vital work to find matching donors for people with blood cancer resonated with our staff and customers and inspired them to go above and beyond this year. As Anthony Nolan celebrates four decades of saving lives, we hope we have contributed somewhat to helping this amazing charity continue its world-class research into blood cancer.”
In 2012-2013 Scotmid chose Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres as its charity partner and it raised £260,000 for the charity. From 2013-2014 the convenience retailer supported Prostate Cancer UK, smashing its £150,000 fundraising target by raising £265,000. Scotmid is delighted to have built on these past achievements by making this partnership with Anthony Nolan its most successful to date.
For more information visit www.anthonynolan.org/scotmid.
