Staff and customers at M&S Ilkley have raised nearly £1500 to fund important work and services at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust’s Haematology and Oncology Day Unit (HODU).
Having selected Airedale Hospital & Community Charity as their chosen charity of the year, the staff at M&S Ilkley were inspired to raise money for the hospital’s Haematology and Oncology Day Unit after their former colleague received great care and support from the staff at the unit during her time of need.
The team positioned charity collection tins at the end of till points for customers to donate any spare change that they might have left over from their shopping. They also placed charity contribution forms in the staff room for colleagues to use to make donations to the cause.
Nicola Wheeler, customer service assistant at M&S Ilkley, said: “The HODU is very close to our hearts at M&S Ilkley, since they have recently provided fantastic care to one of our colleagues who uses the cancer services at Airedale. We are very grateful to our customers and colleagues for their generous donations.
“We are also pleased to announce that we will be continuing the fundraising efforts for Airedale’s HODU into the next year, so if any of our customers want to pop a few pennies into the collection tins after their shop we would be extremely grateful. A little change has proven to add up to a lot over the past year!”
Laura Hepworth, community fundraiser at Airedale Hospital & Community Charity, said: “We are grateful to both the staff and customers at M&S Ilkley for their generous donations to our charity which will be used to enhance the experiences of patients and staff who use the HODU at Airedale.
“We are honoured that M&S Ilkley have decided to continue with AHCC as their chosen charity into the next year. We can’t wait to see what they do to encourage their customers and staff to get involved in the fundraising this time around.”