More than £786,000 has been raised by Matalan stores around the country for the NSPCC and its ChildLine service, marking the biggest retail donation to the charity throughout 2011-2012.
The donation comes as the NSPCC celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Hargreaves Centre in Liverpool, which was named after Matalan owner John Hargreaves who kick started the Safe Place Appeal with a personal £6 million donation.
As part of the charity’s birthday celebrations in Liverpool, Matalan representatives handed over a cheque for £786,683 at a celebratory event on Wednesday June 20. The money raised by Matalan was raised through fundraising initiatives ranging from baked-bean baths and raffles to marathons and sky dives. Matalan’s Stockport store single-handedly raised an amazing £30,000 in less than 12 months.
Mike Jeans, Retail Director at Matalan said “The effort and passion shown in raising funds for such a worthy cause has been truly humbling. A big thank you goes to all of the staff at Matalan stores who have all played a key part and to all our generous customers for their donations and continued support.”
Martin Ashton, senior corporate manager for the NSPCC, said: “Matalan’s continued support and passion for the NSPCC is fantastic and I’d like to thank everyone at Matalan for raising such a brilliant amount. It is greatly appreciated. These funds will go a long way in helping us support vulnerable children in communities across the country and ensure they can access help from the NSPCC, including through our ChildLine service.”
At the beginning of March 2011 Matalan stores were given a charity target of £500,000 for the year ahead and recorded a year-end total of £1,018,520. Other charities Matalan collected for were Retail Trust, Prince’s Trust, Muscular Dystrophy Campaign and many more (including local charities too).
For 2012-2013 Matalan’s charity target is £1.5million and after just 15 weeks they have donated more than £428,000!