SIR STELIOS DONATES £250,000 TO RED CROSS FRONT LINE WORKERS
THE Stelios Philanthropic Foundation has given £250,000 to the British Red Cross for 1,000 front line staff to help them through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Each beneficiary, working across various programmes including independent living, crisis response and refugee assistance will receive a £250 Waitrose/John Lewis voucher from the foundation, which was set up by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of the easyJet airline. John Lewis gave British Red Cross a discount on the vouchers enabling another 75 staff to be helped.
Sir Stelios has already donated £680,000 during the coronavirus crisis and aims to hit the £1million mark, pursuing a “help for the helpers” policy.
Sophie Challis, service coordinator at the Hove-based Home from Hospital and Carers Crisis Response Service in East Sussex, said: “We work very closely with vulnerable adults and their carers. Throughout Covid-19 we have continued to provide a service to those living alone and those with caring responsibilities.
“We have managed to collect essential items, medication, visit people from a distance, and listen when people needed it most. This thoughtful donation has gone a long way to making me and my team, feel valued and rewarded at a very unnerving time.”
The donation also went to staff at the Home from Hospital and Carers in West Sussex.
Sharon Cutler, senior service support assistant at the Red Cross’ Crawley mobility aids services in Crawley, West Sussex, said: “We all do this job because we want to help others, but to receive this wonderful surprise gift and be recognised for the small part we are playing in getting us all through this pandemic, was incredibly humbling.”
Joanna Pafford, Home from Hospital and Brighton and Hove Assisted Discharge Coordinator, said: “The foundation’s generosity has supported us to ensure that the frontline staff feel valued and appreciated for all their efforts over the past few weeks and for the future weeks to come.”
British Red Cross chief executive Michael Adamson said: “ I would like to express our heartfelt thanks to you and your foundation for your exceptional donation of £250,000 to the British Red Cross during this unprecedented time. We are humbled by your gift made towards acknowledging and rewarding the dedication of the British Red Cross staff who are working on the frontline of the Covid-19 response.”
Sir Stelios said: “We will keep giving in a careful and targeted manner to say thank you to the people who are fighting in the front line against one of the worst threats to the health of humanity in over a century.
“It is clear to me that helping the helpers is by far the best route forward – that way we can remove fears, anxieties and uncertainties from their personal lives – leaving them able to focus on the sterling service they perform so well for their fellow human beings.”
Among other donations, Sir Stelios has also recently given £250,000 to Royal College of Nursing Foundation for allocation to 1,000 London-based junior nursing staff in hardship as a result of the current emergency and £150,00 in store vouchers to 4,750 front line carers working in Leonard Cheshire Homes.
