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Partners and staff at law firm Carey Olsen have raised a total of £16,000 in the last year for the Priaulx Premature Baby Foundation (the foundation) and Guernsey Disability Swimming LBG (GDS).
The charities were each presented with a £8,000 cheque by the firm’s charity committee as part of Carey Olsen’s two-year commitment to the charities in 2015.
The committee raised the money through a series of events including Carey Olsen’s second annual Brightest Business Charity Quiz - won this year by Jupiter Trustees.
The foundation is putting the money donated by Carey Olsen towards its "Buy a Brick" campaign which enabled it to purchase a property next to Southampton Hospital set to open in 2017, for local families to stay in while their children are off-Island receiving treatment
Carey Olsen’s fundraising efforts next year will go towards the costs of acquiring crucial neonatal equipment for the foundation.
Foundation co-founder, Jo Priaulx, said: “Receiving support from local businesses is very important to us and Carey Olsen’s staff have worked extremely hard to raise both funds and awareness.
"We are very grateful to have the firm on board as we continue to help local families with premature babies and poorly children. It is great that Carey Olsen's involvement continues into next year as 2017 is set to be a very exciting one for the foundation.”
Relying solely on donations, GDS’s £8,000 enables it to continue its private hire of the Beau Sejour pool and to run social events for its members. As a relatively new charity, Carey Olsen has also worked to raise awareness of GDS which has tripled in size over the last year.
GDS chairman, Roger Allsopp, said: “Two years ago GDS was on the brink of extinction. Its funding had been cut and its membership numbers were dwindling. We now have a thriving organisation and a membership comprising dozens of people with physical or learning disabilities and this is largely due to Carey Olsen’s support,.
“Of equal importance to the generous sums of cash from Carey Olsen is the practical help we have received. This extends from the formation of our LBG to the provision of a board room for meetings, a minute secretary and the organisation of social events.
“Most telling of all is the weekly involvement of one of their advocates, Adrian Sarchet, in caring, coaching and encouraging a lively social exchange between swimmers. GDS and its membership have many compelling reasons to be grateful to Carey Olsen.”
Carey Olsen's next goal for the charity is to help it raise money for a self-propelled poolside wheelchair, that swimmers can use to get from the changing rooms to the pool and back independently, and a rough terrain wheelchair which would allow wheelchair access to the beach.
Carey Olsen partner Russell Clark, said: “It is excellent that our efforts over 2016 have made a difference to these two fantastic charities both of which have strong connections to our staff. It has been a great year of fundraising for Carey Olsen and we look forward to the next one.”
