Imagine being able to choose a charity and have a donation made on your behalf by the company you work for. That is what happens each year at AFD Software and our colleagues love it
I like to choose a different charity each year. It’s usually something important to me at that particular time in my world.
Having seen my father battle dementia for the past few years I wanted to give to a charity pushing hard for a cure. Jackie Stuart's wife has dementia and he has a charity called 'Race Against Dementia'.
At the end of 2016 over £750,000 was distributed to over 50 charities which touch the hearts of our staff by the work they do. They include charities involved in tackling health issues, debt, slavery, child education, faith, disaster relief, and many others.
During the evening we were given three presentations. One was by John Kirkby founder of Christians against Poverty, CAP, a charity whose aim is to lift people out of debt and poverty. John spoke from the heart, he was very frank, powerful, inspirational, challenging and encouraging.
There were two other presentations: one by Neville Hilton on behalf of Aqueduct, a charity working in Pakistan to build a better future by increasing the numbers of children attending school. The other presentation was by David Downie from the Isle of Man Hyperbaric Chamber. Unless you have needed this service for any reason you are unlikely to know how valuable it can be not just for Scuba-Diving incidents but also in reducing swelling, wound healing or for reducing thermal burning following cancer treatment.
You can discover more about the rich variety of charities nominated by staff in 2016 here.