Annual society appeal raises £90,000!

Yorkshire Building Society Charitable Foundation is delighted to announce the results of its recent fundraising appeal, with a £90,000 donation to CLIC Sargent, the UK’s leading children’s cancer charity.

The donation will help 900 families supported by the charity, by providing £100 ‘care grants’ to help with the financial strain which often accompanies a diagnosis of cancer in young people.

The ‘Granting Smiles’ appeal received tremendous support including that of actress and reality TV star Gaynor Faye and television presenter Alice Beer.

The appeal ran throughout December with Yorkshire Building Society staff, customers and the general public taking part in a host of fundraising activities including the sale of exclusive teddy bear key fobs, with all donations being matched pound for pound by the Charitable Foundation.

Louise Neill of the Foundation said: “We asked staff and members of the Society who they would like to support through the Charitable Foundation, and the results showed that charities working with children and people with cancer were the most popular choices. Therefore CLIC Sargent seemed to be the obvious choice for this year’s appeal. We were hoping for a positive reaction but we are astounded with the level of enthusiasm, dedication and support offered to the appeal.”

Claudia McVie, Director of Income Generation at CLIC Sargent, said: “The ‘Granting Smiles’ campaign was a huge success, with staff and members from every branch, agency and head office taking part and helping to raise a magnificent £90,000 for our charity. We have already managed to help over 400 families and hope to grant many more smiles throughout 2007 thanks to the help of Yorkshire Building Society and its Charitable Foundation.”