Two local cancer charities have been boosted by £8,000 thanks to a huge fundraising drive by the team at Creightons.

Staff across the group’s three supermarkets in South Belfast decided to raise funds for Cancer Fund for Children and Friends of the Cancer Centre; two charities close to many of the stores’ employees.

Pauline Elliott, Store Manager at Creightons’ Blacks Road, kickstarted the fundraising drive back in April with an Easter raffle for a grand prize kindly donated by master chocolatiers, Lindt.  Her passion for making a difference in her local community was infectious and she motivated all staff to contribute to the campaign.

Next up, staff organised a ‘Bake Off’ competition in all three stores, followed by a fundraising coffee morning where all the home-baked treats could be enjoyed. Spurred on by the success of the raffle and bucket collections in stores, staff then decided to host a pub quiz in the Devenish. This event was a huge success with over 100 colleagues, customers and other local businesses attending on the night.

In addition to supporting the important work of both charities, many of the fundraising activities encouraged Creightons staff to take stock of their own health and get active. A 5-a-side football tournament was organised and hosted at Colin Glen outdoor pitches. Staff members and their families took to the pitch and battled it out to be crowned winners, with all monies raised going directly towards the stores’ nominated charities.

Finally, team Creightons had 30 staff members cross the finish line at this year’s Belfast City Marathon. While this was the most gruelling of all the challenges, those who took part felt it was the most rewarding and enjoyed the team morale and camaraderie while trained rigorously for the big event. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of customers and friends, the marathon runners contributed a huge amount to the overall fundraising total and helped push this figure over the £8,000 mark.

Pauline said she was immensely proud of every member of the team who helped support the fundraising.

“Seeing the great work carried out by Cancer Fund for Children and Friends of the Cancer Centre inspired me to take action and I felt so fortunate to have the support of my colleagues to fundraise for these worthy causes. When we began to plan our fundraising activities, we had no idea how successful they would be and I feel enormously proud of our colleagues and customers for their generosity and for the time and effort they spent planning or attending events.

“To have 30 members of our team complete the Belfast City Marathon was a phenomenal achievement and already colleagues are planning to compete in next year’s event. We are committed to continuing our support of these wonderful charities and are confident that next year we can surpass this total.”

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