SSE Scottish Hydro employees raised over £1,000 for a Perth charity which helps people living in poverty overseas.
Blythswood Care in Perth provides financial and practical assistance for children and adults in need overseas, with a number of SSE Scottish Hydro employees dedicating their volunteering days to help with the charity’s Shoebox Appeal every year since 2010.
This year, employees also chose to raise money for the charity to help purchase additional items for its Shoebox Appeal as well as help continue the funding of projects for young people in Romania.
Carole McAinsh from SSE’s Customer Service Team in Perth said: “The Blythswood Shoebox Appeal is a campaign close to our hearts and we have helped this project out for the past four years through the company’s employee volunteering scheme. As part of this we have donated shoeboxes and assisted with counting and packing them at the North Church halls.
“However, this year we also decided to raise funds by organising cake sales, raffles, quiz and bingo nights which have resulted in over £1,000 for the charity. We’re delighted with the money raised.”
Dennis Brown, former SSE employee and now a volunteer in the Perth Blythswood Support Group, added: “We are tremendously grateful for the support SSE staff have provided to the charity over the years for our annual Shoebox Appeal. It’s a popular cause with so many people kindly filling shoeboxes with simple goods and gifts which bring so much joy to people who have very little.
“I’d like to thank everyone at SSE for their support and for raising funds for our charity which will go to help continuing the great work we do.”
This year, Perth Blythswood Care collected over 4,000 shoeboxes from the local Community in Perthshire which are filled with simple gifts such as toiletries, clothes, stationery, sweets, toys and miscellaneous household items. These are then transported overseas to people in need in countries including Romania, Albania and Serbia for Christmas.
SSE’s employee volunteering scheme ‘Be the difference’, formerly known as Community at Heart, enables every employee to take a day away from their normal work duties to lend a hand in their local community. To date the scheme has helped over 2,100 projects with employees dedicating 24,000 days to projects that matter to them in the local community.
If you have a project you’d like SSE employees to help with visit: www.sse.com