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Retail chain Argos has raised a total of €80,000 for the Irish Cancer Society, since the launch of its two-year partnership with the national charity last March.
The money raised will fund 3,000 nursing hours at the Irish Cancer Society’s hospital-based Daffodil Centres for people affected by cancer.
Colleagues and customers across Argos’ 40 stores in the Republic of Ireland reached the total in just 12 months, making this one of the Irish Cancer Society’s fastest growing charity partnerships to date.
Following the launch of the charity partnership with a Daffodil Day fundraiser, stores have hosted a wide range of events to boost fundraising efforts. These include staff cake sales and raffles, along with participating in the Society’s own campaigns like Colour Dash and Paint it Pink.
Des Barnett, charity partnership manager at Argos Republic of Ireland, said: “We’ve seen incredibly high levels of engagement from stores right across the country, which is fantastic.
“We far exceeded our fundraising target for the first year and, having voted to support the Irish Cancer Society, our colleagues will be delighted to know that they are making such a difference to people affected by cancer.”
Irish Cancer Society ceo John McCormack added: “We are so pleased to have the support of Argos. Every day we are fighting cancer on so many fronts to ensure that less people will die from this terrible disease. We are so grateful, not only for the support from the staff of Argos, but also to their customers who have enthusiastically gotten behind our cause.
“So far, thanks to our partnership with Argos, we can support almost 3,000 visitors to one of our specialist Daffodil Centres, based in hospitals all over Ireland. We look forward to reaching even more people as our partnership continues to grow.”
Further fundraising plans by Argos colleagues in 2016 include support of the Irish Cancer Society’s national fundraising events such as Colour Dash, Paint it Pink, and Movember, as well as bespoke fundraising activity linked to key trading periods for the business such as the Argos catalogue launch in July.
Argos opened its first stores in the Republic in January 1996 in Limerick and Dublin; there is now an Argos catalogue in approximately three quarters of all Irish homes. Argos is one of the largest retail employers in the country with around 1,100 employees. In 2005, Argos launched its Irish website, www.argos.ie, which now has over 25,000 products online.
