01/08/2008

NI Cancer Charity Gets 'Nationwide' Boost

A top Northern Ireland cancer charity is to get support from a major financial institution.

The Nationwide Building Society has teamed up with leading local cancer charity, the Ulster Cancer Foundation (UCF) in a bid to raise £50,000 to help fund a major new support programme for cancer patients and their families in Northern Ireland.

Nationwide staff and customers across the Province, with support from UCF, will be encouraged to raise funds through a variety of fundraising activities over the next year.

Ian Milligan, from Nationwide Building Society said: "We are really looking forward to working with UCF over the next 12 months and to the challenge that reaching our goal of £50,000 for this venture represents.

"Across our 14 branches, our 250 staff are very enthusiastic about getting involved in the forthcoming fundraising activities and we hope that many of our customers will also help us to fundraise.

"We see working together with this local charity as a key part of our community investment programme. A key attraction of working with UCF is to help people at a local level - delivering practical support to help people in communities throughout Northern Ireland."

Joyce Savage from UCF said: "Our charity partnership with Nationwide is our latest Personal Everest project. The £50,000 fundraising target will give a tremendous boost to the £150,000 we need to raise to fund a new support programme for local people who have been affected by cancer.

"This includes providing a tailored fitness programme for cancer patients, both during and after treatment, to help reduce the debilitating effects of fatigue and enhance quality of life. It will also fund a full-time complementary therapy service to reconnect people with their self esteem and self image, which are often damaged as a result of their diagnosis and treatment for cancer," she said, noting there are currently 55,000 families in Northern Ireland living with cancer and around 9,000 people are newly diagnosed each year.

(BMcC)

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