Wirral based charity Autism Together, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has received a donation of £3,000 from Essar at Stanlow towards its Future 50 fundraising appeal.
Essar’s Ellesmere Port based refinery regularly donates to local charities as part of its Let’s Give programme, which links safety milestones to charitable giving. Employees nominate charities for them to benefit from a donation when a significant safety target is reached.
Autism Together has touched the hearts of two Essar employees, Matthew Rigby, a Planner Scheduler at the refinery, and Jessica Clay, a Business Administration Apprentice. Both Matthew and Jessica nominated the charity for a Let’s Give donation, and were delighted to present it to staff at the organisation’s Bromborough Pool Garden Centre. The facility is open to members of the public, alongside a small community café, providing a warm welcome to all who pop by to support the charity.
Matthew said: “My brother Andrew spent many happy years in the residential care home here at Bromborough. He sadly passed away earlier this year, but we still keep links with Autism Together, and this has been a great way of saying thank you for all they did to support him and our family. He particularly enjoyed getting ‘hands-on’ in the garden centre, so it’s lovely to come back and visit.”
Jessica, whose brother Jack is a regular at Autism Together’s Raby site, commented: “Jack really enjoys his days at Raby. He also spends some time at the residential services, providing the family with some respite care. It was great to be able to nominate them through the Let’s Give scheme and I was really pleased to hear that Essar were donating to the charity.”
Rick Myers, Fundraising Manager for Autism Together, commented: “We are very grateful to Essar, Jessica and Matthew for the generous donation which will go towards our Future 50 appeal. The appeal will help us towards our target of opening a high-tech autism assessment and diagnostic centre based at our original building, Old Raby Hall.”
