The Sick Children’s Trust to benefit from BGL Make a Difference Fund

Colleagues at BGL’s London offices have chosen The Sick Children’s Trust as the charity they will support for the next two years, and which is to receive a £20,000 cash boost.

The Sick Children’s Trust was voted by colleagues at White Collar Factory, in Old Street, as the cause they would like to see benefit from an ambitious new regional charity partnership programme, the BGL Make a Difference Fund.

The BGL Make a Difference Fund offers funding and support to a local charity based close to each of BGL’s five key sites in Peterborough, Sunderland, London, Wakefield and across the channel in Paris.

More than 70 organisations applied to be a partner charity and The Sick Children’s Trust was selected for London after a shortlist was put to a company vote.

The Sick Children’s Trust provides free, comfortable ‘Home from Home’ accommodation for families with seriously ill children in hospitals around the UK. The charity believes that keeping families together improves a sick child’s recovery. Its ten ‘Homes from Home’, based at leading children’s hospitals across the country, provide vital emotional and practical support for families, so they can be there for their sick child during their hospital treatment.

The charity currently has ‘Homes from Home’ in Cambridge, Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle, and London based at Great Ormond Street and the Royal London Children’s Hospital. Together the houses support around 4,000 families a year, keeping them together just minutes from their sick child’s hospital bedside.

Not only will The Sick Children’s Trust be supported by regular volunteering and fundraising by BGL’s people, it will also receive a £20,000 cash boost.

BGL’s donation will fund all of the running costs associated with providing a room for a family, including the staff who are on hand to provide emotional support to families going through incredibly stressful and upsetting times.

BGL’s Chief Executive Officer, Matthew Donaldson, said: “Supporting the community is part of who we are at BGL. We are delighted to partner with The Sick Children’s Trust to make a difference to the many people who will benefit from this project. We will be supporting them not just with substantial funding but with our people’s time.

“The success of our existing community programme is very much down to the commitment of our people and I know this is a cause close to their hearts.”

Ayla Besser, Head of Fundraising at The Sick Children’s Trust, says: “Every day, children are diagnosed with serious and life-threatening illnesses or have terrible accidents that leave them fighting for life. Life for their whole family is suddenly thrown into complete turmoil. That’s where The Sick Children’s Trust steps in, providing vital emotional and practical support to keep families together. With the support of BGL, we will be able to provide a ‘Home from Home’ for families in London, ensuring they can be right by their sick child’s side, supporting their recovery and speeding their journey back home. It costs the charity £30 to provide one night of accommodation for a family at each of our three London ‘Homes from Home’ at Great Ormond Street and the Royal London Children’s Hospital, so BGL’s partnership will directly help fund these houses. We are absolutely delighted to have been voted as charity partner and are excited about the impact that working together will have on the 4,000 families a year who rely on our support.”

BGL Group is aiming to positively impact 250,000 lives and donate £3 million to good causes by 2020.

The bar was raised after colleagues across the company smashed the original target two years ahead of plan, positively impacting 209,000 people, donating over £1 million to good causes and delivering more than 19,000 volunteering hours in local communities.