FirstGroup’s Partnership with Save the Children Supports the Poorest Families in Greater Manchester

2012-11-28 — /travelprnews.com/ — FirstGroup, the UK’s largest bus and rail operator, has donated £41,000 to deprived families in Manchester through Save the Children’s ‘Eat, Sleep, Learn, Play!’ (ESLP) initiative.

The ESLP project supports children living in the most severe poverty by providing their families with household essentials. Grants are used to purchase items ranging from cookers and washing machines to children’s beds and educational books and toys. The programme also carries out benefit checks; ensuring families are claiming all the financial support they are entitled to.

So far, FirstGroup’s donation of £41,000 has directly supported 101 of the poorest children in deprived areas of Manchester City Council and Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council, with a further 80 families expected to benefit by the end of March 2013.

First operates some 800 buses in the Greater Manchester area and this week has significantly lowered its day and week tickets within the M60 corridor. It has also recently introduced 100 new buses to the region at a cost of £20m and has started a new cross city service from North Manchester to the hospitals and Universities on Oxford Road.

Ginny Lunn, Head of UK Programmes at Save the Children, thanked FirstGroup for its continued support: “This generous donation will help children to fulfill their potential whatever their circumstances. Across the UK, families are struggling to live on low incomes, leaving many children deprived of basic necessities. In Manchester, four in 10 children live in poverty.  With FirstGroup’s fantastic support we are able to deliver basic material items to some of the most vulnerable families.”

Simon Pearson, Commercial Director of FirstGroup’s Bus Division in the North of England, said: “FirstGroup has supported Save the Children since 2007, raising over £4million in cash and in kind contributions. Our support continues and I’m delighted that our latest funding has benefited families in Manchester who need it the most.”

###