Two local charities are celebrating after receiving more than £5,000 each from transport leaders.
Over the past two years, Transport for Greater Manchester’s (TfGM) in-house charity committee has worked tirelessly to raise money for Greater Manchester-based branches of Kidscan and The Samaritans.Often giving up much of their own time, the team organised a variety of fundraising activities for colleagues ranging from bake sales to Olympic and World Cup sweepstakes, while in 2015, a number of staff took part in the Manchester Marathon.
Karen Delaney, member of the TfGM charity committee, said: “I’m really proud of the amount of money we’ve raised for both charities.
“The team has worked so hard over the last two years to make a real difference and so it’s testament to all their efforts that we’ve raised so much for two really great charities.
“Choosing which local charities to support was never going to be an easy task so we asked our colleagues to nominate their suggestions and following a vote both Kidscan and The Samaritans were chosen in 2014.
“I’m looking forward to working with two new charities over the next few years but for now we’re all delighted that the money raised for Kidscan and The Samaritans will be going to two really good causes here in Greater Manchester.”
Marking the culmination of the two-year association, representatives from both charities attended TfGM’s office in Manchester city centre to collect their cheques.
Ged Carter, Director of Development at Salford based children’s charity, Kidscan, said: “Kidscan operates on a voluntary basis and so any money received helps us to fund research and development to come up with new targeted treatments to cure cancer in children.
“Most people don’t realise that a lot of treatments currently in use are actually developed for adults and while they do save lives they can also have a damaging and long-lasting impact on young children so our work focuses on the development of treatments specifically for children.
“The work carried out by TfGM’s fundraising committee is a fantastic example for other companies to follow. They really set the bar high to raise this amount for us. Well done!”
Joan Moore, Branch Director of the Manchester and Salford Samaritans, said “TfGM has raised a lot of money for us and the cheque for £5,000 will make a huge difference.
“We’re solely funded by contributions from the public and so this money will continue to enable us to continue to help some of the most vulnerable people in the community.
“It’s been a pleasure working with TfGM and I’m sure that they’ll go on to help many more charities like they have with us.”
