£10k grant helps make very special memories
A charity in Sunderland which supports children with life-limiting conditions has received a £10,000 boost from a leading insurance firm.
BGL Insurance, which has a centre in the city, is supporting The Special Lioness – a charity set up by Sunderland mums Claire Stewart and Amy Howes in 2017.
Claire said: “We are extremely grateful to be selected as BGL Insurance’s chosen charity for the North of England. The donation will enable to us to create some extraordinary and very special memories and we plan to organise a formal ball event for our families.
"A lot of the children who use our service have life-limiting conditions, meaning they may not get the opportunity to take part in special life events such as prom, weddings or graduations.”
Amy added: “Our plan is to have a big formal ball to enable those children and their families to experience a special event in their honour, with the tuxedos and ball gowns and an extra special first dance for mothers and sons and fathers and daughters.”
The donation is part of a new corporate and social responsibility strategy by BGL.
The new approach has been designed to allows employees to use their passion and expertise to help good causes though volunteering and donating through payroll giving.
As part of the new strategy, BGL Insurance has also launched a charity trek – challenging 50 colleagues from across the business to fundraise and take on the Three Peaks Challenge in Yorkshire.
Emily Taylor, CSR manager at the firm, said: “We have been working on our new charity approach for some time and have used what we learned during the pandemic to help us shape the support we would like to provide to our communities.
"Charity partnerships we have had over the years quickly turn into friendships and we have built strong connections with charities and good causes.
“We are proud to be supporting The Special Lioness as part of our new strategy, it’s a fantastic local charity whose work impacts so many.”
BGL Insurance is home to some of the UK’s leading financial services brands, has over three million customers and almost 2,000 colleagues.