All in a Day’s Work

The Great BT Charity Shops Challenge brings in over €117,000 for the Irish Cancer Society and Marie Curie

BT employees from across Ireland joined representatives from the Irish Cancer Society and Marie Curie at Riddel Hall Belfast to announce the results of the Great BT Charity Shops Challenge 2015.

On 8 October 160 BT people  stepped out of their day jobs to volunteer for the all-island ‘Great BT Charity Shops Challenge’ for a third year running.  On the day, each BT team ‘took over’ one of 16 charity shops (six Irish Cancer Society shops in the Republic of Ireland and ten Marie Curie shops in Northern Ireland) to help raise much-needed funds for both charities. 

The BT teams competed fiercely against each other, using all of their planning, marketing and selling skills to generate stock, raise the profile of the shops locally, attract more volunteers and customers and increase shop takings on the day.

And the results are in…

The overall winners reporting a 1,650 per cent increase in sales on the day are the team from the Marie Curie Shop on the Cregagh Road in Belfast for a second year running and in the Republic of Ireland, the highest amount raised was in the Irish Cancer Society shop in Capel St Dublin.

This year’s campaign raised a total of over €117,000, between sales on the day and stock donated for the charities.

Paul Hughes, Irish Cancer Society Shops Manager said: “We are so pleased to have received such enthusiastic and creative support from all the BT teams that ‘took over’ our charity shops this year. We are not only delighted with the money raised by BT staff during the Great BT Shops Challenge, but also with the attention the campaign has attracted to our shops.

More people now know about the great quality and bargains to be found thanks to the teams’ excellent promotion of the stores. In the six participating Irish Cancer Society shops over €60,000 has been raised, between sales on the day and an additional 1793 bags of stock donated. This support will help us fight cancer, ensuring that fewer people get cancer and those that do have better outcomes, it will also fund the provision of specialist cancer information, advice and support for 3,000 visitors in one of our hospital based Daffodil Centres.”

Shay Walsh, Managing Director BT in the Republic of Ireland said: “BT has always worked hard to improve the lives of the communities in which we operate and, a core part of our corporate responsibility programme is based around our volunteers who get involved with some brilliant community initiatives. We were particularly excited to support the Irish Cancer Society and Marie Curie again this year, and our teams have done us proud.

The energy, enthusiasm and creativity of the teams has been amazing and we’re delighted to have raised such a significant amount of money particularly at a time when there are enormous pressures on people to support world - wide crisis situations.

Thanks also go to all the customers who came out to support the Camden Street, Capel Street, Drogheda, Phibsborough, Rathmines and Dunlaoghaire shops to help raise such a significant amount for two very important charities.”