Meet our new Charity partner – together we’ll keep people well

By Peter Haden, CEO

At the back end of last year, it was announced that British Lung Foundation would be the ‘national’ Charity of the Year for 2022, and we have some exciting developments regarding this partnership.

We’re excited to announce that Fletchers and Asthma + Lung UK (Formerly Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation Partnership) are launching a charity partnership to make meaningful change and keep people well, by supporting the continuation of their helpline.[vc_separator color=”custom” accent_color=”#164c48″]

Why are we announcing the partnership?

• 10,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with a lung condition every week
• 1.1 million children with Asthma
• Lung disease is the third biggest killer after heart disease and cancer, but rates of diagnosis for some serious diseases are getting worse and only 2% of public spend on medical research is into lung conditions

1 in 5 people in the UK will develop a lung condition in their lifetime, that’s someone in every family, workplace, and friendship circle, including some of our Fletcherians, which is why we thought it would be a great charity to support.

What does the partnership involve?

Fletchers and Asthma + Lung UK are coming together to support healthy lungs, keeping people well across the nation

We are aiming to raise £10,000 through employee payroll giving and fundraising events, to help fund calls to the helpline.

This would help more than 700 people living with a lung condition in the UK to access the help they need.

The helpline provides support via the following ways:

• It provides trusted, specialist information and advice from Asthma + Lung UK’s health care advisers and respiratory nurse specialists
• Helpline specialists take as long as they need to talk through issues with the callers
• They support people who may be isolated and don’t know who else to turn to
• It reduces pressure on NHS services

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How will we achieve the fundraising aim?

This will be achieved through monthly employee payroll giving donations and an array of engaging fundraising events, like the return of the office-to-office challenge (more details coming soon).

We will be holding our first fundraising day on Thursday 21st April, with ‘Go Orange’, where we encourage the whole business to wear orange, have orange backgrounds on teams etc. and donate £2 to the cause.

Colleagues will be able to donate via the charity tins located at each office and via the JustGiving link.

Sarah Woolnough, CEO of Asthma + Lung UK, said:

 

“We’re so thankful to employees at Fletchers who have voted us as their Charity of the Year. The money raised through fundraising and donations will fund more than 700 calls to our helpline, allowing us to support hundreds of people with lung conditions with advice and support on everything from help getting a diagnosis, ways to manage their condition and even financial support and advice.”[vc_separator color=”custom” accent_color=”#164c48″]

Why is it important to Fletchers to get involved in partnerships like this?

The exec leadership team believe that it is important to everyone at Fletchers that it is a responsible business and is giving back to the communities that it represents.

This is the reason we are focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility and partnering with like-minded charities to make a real change to communities and its people.

Asthma + Lung UK is a brilliant charity to kick this off with as the issues of lung conditions affect many people in communities as well as many of our colleagues.

We’re looking forward to building this partnership over the next 9 months and to see what we can achieve together. We will send updates throughout the partnership and encourage all Fletcherians and stakeholders to get involved in our fundraising activities in 2022.