Member Article

GEFCO donates £5,000 to local baby hospice

Logistics specialist GEFCO UK has presented a Coventry baby hospice with a cheque for £5,000 as part of Christmas Jumper Day festive fundraising at the firm’s Prologis Park headquarters.

The cheque was handed over to Zoë’s Place, which provides palliative, respite and end-of-life care to babies and infants, during Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day.

To raise the funds, GEFCO staff sold raffle tickets from its 14 sites across the UK, with colleagues, customers, suppliers, friends and family all generously contributing to the cause.

A host of festive-themed fundraising activities took place during the event, as part of GEFCO’s dedicated programme to engage employees and deserving causes.

Pupils from Exhall Grange Specialist School and Science College joined in the fun with Christmas carols and a dance performance in the morning, and attendees were treated to a buffet, choir and a special guest appearance from Santa himself.

Elsewhere, staff donated money usually spent on Christmas cards to charity Children with Cancer UK. They also provided unwanted gift donations to University Hospital Coventry, made food donations to the Trussell Trust and took part in a best decorated office competition.

“We are very proud of our staff that have volunteered to raise this significant contribution to Zoë’s Place, and incredibly grateful to everyone who has generously supported in the raffle and taken part in our huge range of festive fundraising activities today,” said Maria Holmes-Keeling, Marketing Manager, GEFCO UK. “Zoë’s Place has a high fundraising target to reach every year, and we’re proud to be contributing towards this with the fantastic backing of our colleagues, customers and everyone who so selflessly helped with donations and prizes.”

Raffle prizes for Zoë’s Place were kindly donated by Acedent Ltd, AutoClenz, Bell Events, Caterpillar, Dowlis.com, HELI RIDE, Igloo, Logic Comms, Novotel, San Giovanni restaurant and bar, Tina Sidwell-Jeffcoat and Wasps RFC. These included an Apple iPhone 6, a helicopter trial piloting lesson, Wasps home grandstand tickets and £300 worth of House of Fraser vouchers.

Zoë’s Place Baby Hospice is the only baby-specific facility of its kind in the Midlands, providing 24 hour care on a one to one basis. It specialises in palliative, respite and end-of-life care to children aged 0-5 years, who have life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. The hospice offers high-quality short-term regular care, to provide families with holistic support.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andrew Murgatroyd .