Two charities are both £10,000 better off thanks to a generous donation from leading international energy logistics provider Peterson and its employees.
Staff raised £10,000 for Friends of Anchor in Aberdeen and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution which were chosen by employees. The company matched that sum bringing the overall total donation to £20,000.
Peterson base operative Francis McCarthy was first diagnosed with non hodgkin's lymphoma in 2001 and has used the support of Friends of Anchor throughout his treatment.
He commented: “I can’t begin to explain how thankful I am for the care I received through Friends of Anchor. The volunteers do such a fantastic job and to see the charity supported by my colleagues at Peterson was very touching. I’ve seen first hand how donations like this are used and I know it will make a real difference to the unit.”
The RNLI was chosen because of Peterson’s strong association with the offshore maritime industries.
Anne Scott, RNLI commented: “The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is the charity that saves lives at sea. As a charity we receive no government funding and rely on the support of individuals and companies to enable our volunteer crews to carry out their life-saving work. Without this help there would be no RNLI and our crews would not be able to save an average of 24 people per day.
“We are extremely grateful to the management and staff of Peterson for this very generous donation which will make a huge difference to our work in the Aberdeen area. Together we save lives.”
Both charities received their donations at a special presentation on Friday, March 4, which was attended by Peterson directors, employees and charity representatives.
The money was raised by employees through a number of fundraising events held in 2015 including a Valentine’s Day bake sale, a charity football match and a raffle at the company’s annual Christmas dinner dance. In August, Peterson hosted a family fun day, which was attended by more than 200 employees and included bouncy castles, racing and tug of war activities.
The £20,000 is in addition to a further £4,500 raised by Peterson’s staff in Shetland, which was collected during a Christmas party raffle. This will be distributed between Lerwick Food Bank and Mind Your Head mental health charity.
Murdo MacIver, director, Peterson commented: “The fundraising efforts of our employees over the last 12 months have been overwhelming. The time and money each of them have taken to organise and contribute to the events has been great to see, and we look forward to continuing our charity efforts in 2016.”
Peterson’s fundraising activities for 2016 are already well under way, with the company aiming to match or better 2015’s efforts with the proceeds being split between Alzheimer’s Scotland and Grampian Autistic Society.