HOMESERVE CELEBRATES HITTING ONE MILLION POUND MILESTONE FOR MARIE CURIE
Monday 24th September 2012: HomeServe employees today proudly celebrated reaching their £1 million donation target for
national charity partner Marie Curie Cancer Care – six months earlier than anticipated.
Slade legend Noddy Holder made a welcome appearance at HomeServe’s Walsall HQ to cut a specially-made celebration cake to
mark the occasion.
The £1 million is made up of £425,000 cash raised through employee fundraising, business donations and HomeServe’s
sponsorship of Marie Curie’s Walk Ten events, with the remainder donated as gift in kind through free services offered to Marie
Curie patients. The large amount of money raised is testament to the sheer hard work and determination, and non-stop fundraising,
of employees supportive of the charity.
The £425,000 cash will help fund the equivalent of 22 Marie Curie Nurses to care for people with terminal illnesses for a whole
year, emphasising to employees the importance of their fundraising and giving a real sense of achievement at the company.
The remaining £575,000 came from free home emergency cover through HomeServe’s Patient Policy, giving patients and their
families peace of mind for home emergencies. The free policy has helped hundreds during very difficult times, and has been an
emotional experience for many engineers – but one they have been very proud to be part of.
But just because HomeServe and its employees have reached their donation target early, that doesn’t mean they’ll be stopping
here. Today HomeServe underlined its commitment to Marie Curie, not only continuing its support until the end of the original
partnership date in March 2013, but also confirming they will continue their partnership for another year until March 2014.
Jonathan King, CEO said “Raising £1 million is testament to just how much HomeServe and the people who work here have taken
the charity to heart. The figure does not tell the whole story. People have not just given money; they’ve given up countless hours of
their time and energy. It’s not just been about raising money, it’s about making a real difference to people’s lives.
“We knew it was an ambitious target, so to hit that amount six months early is an incredible achievement and something that every
single person in HomeServe should be proud of.”
Noddy Holder said: “I’m delighted to be here to represent Marie Curie Cancer Care and help HomeServe celebrate such an
incredible achievement. The help staff here have given patients has made a massive difference to their lives, and the funds that
they’ve worked so hard to raise will leave a real legacy. I hope everyone joins with me in wishing all those involved a massive ‘Well
done’ and ‘Thank you’.”
Arun Sharma, Head of Corporate Fundraising at Marie Curie Cancer Care, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the support that
HomeServe have provided and we are proud to be partnered with such a fantastic organisation. The support we have received
across their business has gone above and beyond our expectations and we are extremely grateful to their staff for all the hard work
and commitment they have shown. Raising £1 million is a fantastic achievement and will make a huge difference to our patients
and their families.”
All employees have made contributions, ranging from dress down days for £1 to taking part in larger events like the HomeServe
Cycle Challenge held in May when a number employees cycled the 200km between HomeServe’s Preston and Walsall sites in just
two days. One employee who hasn’t stopped fundraising from day one is Paul Allen, who alone has raised more than £8,500 from
cycling all over Britain and parts of Europe. Other innovative schemes the company has introduced include Pennies for Patients,
which enables employees to donate spare change from their monthly salaries, or letting employees purchase a Charity Holiday Day
– an extra day’s leave, with their pay for that day being donated to Marie Curie.
HomeServe has also proudly sponsored Marie Curie’s Walk Ten series of sponsored 10 kilometre walks for the past three years,
which has seen large numbers of employees taking part in events all over the country.
In addition, HomeServe has committed to raising awareness of Marie Curie by embroidering the charity’s logo onto its engineers’
shirt sleeves, and carrying the Marie Curie daffodil on all 294 vans in its fleet.
To celebrate this achievement and to show the continued commitment from the company and its employees, HomeServe today
launched its next challenge, with teams from its Walsall, Preston and Banbury sites trekking the 1,085m to the summit of Snowdon
on Friday 26 April 2013, with fundraisers being given a day’s additional leave to take part.
The partnership between the company and the charity is the first of its kind for HomeServe. Marie Curie Cancer Care was chosen
by employees in a company-wide vote and also because HomeServe is in a special position to provide practical support to patients
in their own homes through its network of engineers, as well as harness business donations and employee fundraising and
volunteering.
-endsNotes to editors:
For more information, please contact either:
Sarah Palmer on 01922 609 073 / 07872 411 215 [email protected]
Diane Jones on 01922 659 731 / 07872 411 327 [email protected]
About HomeServe
Every minute a Homeserve engineer comes to the rescue of a British household.
With over 2,700 directly employed and sub-contracted engineers, Homeserve is a national emergency home repair service backed by a
24 hour claims handling and repair network
HomeServe's new tradesmen service provides households with access vetted tradesmen who are qualified to carry out hundreds of
different jobs around the home
HomeServe tradesmen are guaranteed to turn up on time, to hold the necessary qualifications to do the job at hand, to provide a price
before they start the job and will even guarantee their work for a 12 month period afterwards.
Homeserve also offers insurance cover for plumbing, drains, electrical wiring and gas central heating.
About Marie Curie Cancer Care
Marie Curie Cancer Care is one of the UK’s largest charities. Employing more than 2,700 nurses, doctors and other healthcare
professionals, it provided care to more than 31,000 terminally ill patients in the community and in its nine hospices last year and is the
largest provider of hospice beds outside the NHS.
Funding
Around 70 per cent of the charity’s income comes from the generous support of thousands of individuals, membership organisations and
businesses, with the balance of our funds coming from the NHS.
Marie Curie Nurses
The charity is best known for its network of Marie Curie Nurses working in the community to provide end of life care, totally free for
patients in their own homes.
The right to die in place of choice
Research shows around 65 per cent of people would like to die at home if they had a terminal illness, with a sizeable minority opting for
hospice care. However, more than 50 per cent of cancer deaths still occur in hospital, the place people say they would least like to be.
Since 2004 Marie Curie Cancer Care has been campaigning for more patients to be able to make the choice to be cared for and die in
their place of choice.