M&S Harrogate stores choose district hospital as their charity of the year

18 June 2014

Marks & Spencer employees in Harrogate have chosen Harrogate and District Hospital Charity as their 2014 Charity of the Year, as part of their Plan A commitments to work closely with local communities.

The new M&S Oatlands Simply Food store, which is due to open on Wednesday 25th June, and the existing town centre store in Cambridge Street, have joined forces to support the town’s hospital charity. Both stores will be hosting a 12 month fundraising campaign, with a range of activities and events, including sponsored walks and runs, bag packs, cake bakes and raffles.

The funds raised will be shared between the hospital’s new cancer unit and Dementia service. M&S employees will be raising money to help the hospital purchase infusion pumps for cancer patients and memory boxes, photo books and decade themed pop up rooms for Dementia patients.

Andrea Watson, M&S Oatlands Simply Food Store Manager, said: With our new store opening in a week, we were really keen to choose a local cause that means something to the employees and people in the area. We commit each year to working with local causes and form partnerships for the good of the immediate community.

Both the town centre and the Oatlands team felt that the local hospital is a cause at the heart of the town’s community. Cancer and Dementia are illnesses that will have touched many people in some way so we are pleased that the money we raise will go towards supporting the delivery of care to the people in the immediate area.

We look forward to working with Harrogate District Hospital for many months to come and hope that our customers will enjoy the fundraising activities that we have lined up for the year.

 

Jenny Harris, Head of Fundraising at Harrogate and District Hospital Charity, said: We are delighted to have been chosen as Marks & Spencer’s Charity of the Year within Harrogate. The funds raised will provide additional equipment that enhances patients’ and their families care, at what is often, very difficult times in their lives. Marks & Spencer’s support, and that of its staff and customers, will make a huge difference to patients and their families.

M&S works closely with local communities as part of its Plan A commitments, the company’s pledge to become the world’s most sustainable major retailer. Each year, M&S stores around the country select one charity to support for the full year, hosting fundraising events with customers and staff. M&S Harrogate has previously worked with local causes such as St Michael’s Hospice and Harrogate Alzheimer’s Society.

1 Comment

  1. Good to see and suspect M&S know they have bridges to build in the community. However, I hope that take the approach of ASDA and others who support a range of charities over the year.

    There is a specific opportunity with M&S with their work around sustainability & biodiversity (see link below). With a number of conservation groups in the Harrogate Area (Pinewoods, Bilton, Rossett Nature reserve) that could be one area where they could offer specific support.

    I wonder if we will see a M&S team this Saturday at http://pinewoodsconservationgroup.org.uk/events/charity-balsam-bash

    http://www.retailtimes.co.uk/marks-spencer-first-uk-retailer-achieve-wildlife-benchmark/

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