Charity hands over cheques to St Vincent’s and Accord
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Gym users putting in the hours on the treadmill have helped raise a fantastic £20,000 for two much-loved hospices.
Renfrewshire Sports Charity, which runs Pro-Life Fitness Centre in Paisley, handed over two cheques for £10,000 to Accord Hospice and St Vincent’s Hospice at its summer fun day recently.
The incredible sum of money has come from profits made by the gym over the past year as well as gym members and members of the public taking part in fundraising events.
Gayle Brannigan-McLachlan is the charity’s chief executive. She said: “The money has come from hard fundraising for the past year. “We are a sports charity so all of our profits go back into the community. “We’ve had events like a psychic supper, sponsored abseil and zipslides, taking part in events like Tough Mudder and 10k races as well as challenges in the gym like a firewalk.
“We’ve also done a lot of sports auctions. “We’re very fortunate to have the chance to give the money back to the community. “We’ve got great partnerships with Street Stuff and the Thistle Foundation as well so we help them out, but our main beneficiaries are the hospices.”
Both Helen Simpson, chief executive of Accord, and Kate Lennon, St Vincent’s chief executive, were guests at the summer fun day and Gayle was delighted to surprise them with the cheques.
She said: “I was very pleased to be able to do that. “They were both there on the day but they weren’t expecting the cheques so that was a lovely surprise. “They were both overwhelmed. “Kate and Helen are lovely people and are both trustees of our board. “They’re inspirational role models in the community so it was lovely to be able to surprise them. “It makes it all worthwhile.”
Renfrewshire Sports Charity took over Pro-Life gym four years ago and sponsors athletes as well as sports clubs in the community. David McFadden, senior fundraiser at Accord Hospice, said: “A huge thank you to the Renfrewshire Sports Charity, staff and members at Pro-Life Fitness Centre for their superb support of hospice care in Renfrewshire. “Accord Hospice is delighted to receive such a substantial donation of £10,000 from our long term partners. “We were completely surprised and overwhelmed with the generosity. “The funds will be utilised to
help improve our in-patient unit which is set to undergo major refurbishment in November of this year. It’s with huge thanks to everyone at the Renfrewshire Sports Charity that we are able to provide the first class palliative and end of life care to the people of Renfrewshire.”
Carol-Ann Lamont, senior fundraiser for St Vincent’s Hospice, said: “This has been a fantastic partnership benefiting both of Renfrewshire’s hospices. “We were absolutely blown away by the incredible amount raised and would like to thank Pro-Life for their wonderful support.”
Paisley Daily Express article by Alison Rennie
