Member Article

Smokers in the North East challenged to Justgive up

The NHS Smokefree campaign has teamed up with Justgiving to launch the UK’s first ever national sponsored quit attempt. Would-be-quitters in the North East can sign up to a new website, www.justgiving.com/smokefree, and quit smoking whilst raising money for a charity of their choice. The website goes live today and allows smokers to commit to a date by which they will have quit cigarettes.

Smokers making a quit attempt choose a charity from one of Justgiving’s 2,000 member organisations for which to raise money. They then make their own personalised webpage where friends and family can go to sponsor them as they beat their habits for good. Smokers can either choose to give up and raise money for a charity of their choice individually or in a group, so smokers could team up with their friends or with colleagues at work and give up together.

Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh, Smoke Free North East said: “In the North East, we have some of the best Stop Smoking Services in the country and have the highest success rates for people quitting smoking and we should be extremely proud of this. We now need to be ready to help people who wish to quit smoking as a smoke free law nears.”

Anne-Marie Hudy, Justgiving’s Managing Director, said: “This is a really exciting initiative for both the smokers taking part and our member charities. The quitters get all the health benefits that come with giving up smoking and the charities receive the money raised from their efforts. By being able to see the support of friends and family, we hope that the quitters are inspired to successfully give up and raise money for a good cause in the process.”

For more information about the campaign or to sign up to raise money by quitting visit www.justgiving.com/smokefree.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .