Aberdeen, Scotland, 2014-12-17 — /Travel PR News/ — Thousands of FirstGroup’s employees have chosen Prostate Cancer UK as the company’s new UK Charity of Choice partner after a recent vote.
The new three year partnership between the leading transport operator and the charity hopes to raise £1m for men affected by prostate cancer, and their partners and families, through employee events, collections and promotions. The aim of the partnership, which begins in April 2015, is to begin life saving journeys for FirstGroup’s employees, customers and the wider community, ensuring they know their risk of prostate cancer and raising awareness of the disease and the support available from the charity.
To support this ambition, FirstGroup donations will fund the production of a million ‘Know Your Prostate’ credit card sized Z-card leaflets and further specialist resources to raise awareness of prostate cancer. FirstGroup will also provide Prostate Cancer UK with valuable advertising space throughout its UK bus and rail networks which will encourage many more people to join the charity’s campaign against the disease.
Mick Barker, a train driver for First Great Western, is FirstGroup’s Non-Executive Employee Director and chairs the company’s Community First Committee which reviewed a large number of employee-nominated charities and selected the shortlist for the company-wide vote. He said: “We’re very pleased to partner with Prostate Cancer UK as our Charity of Choice. We saw many great applications from good causes and our employees across the UK voted in massive numbers, with many telling us they chose Prostate Cancer UK with family members that they care about in mind. We are looking forward to starting our partnership with Prostate Cancer UK in April and will be raising money and awareness for this important charity over the next three years.”
Owen Sharp, Chief Executive at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “It’s great to be embarking on a new journey with FirstGroup and I’m really excited to welcome them on board. This partnership will offer us an excellent platform in transforming public awareness of a disease which affects one in eight men, and reaching them early will make a life saving difference. The fact that FirstGroup employees voted for us shows how much men’s health, and prostate cancer in particular, is an issue, and we thank everyone who voted for us. Their support will also go a long way in helping Prostate Cancer UK reach its goals in building a movement fighting against the disease.”
Prostate Cancer UK was chosen following a vote of 25,000 FirstGroup employees in its bus, tram and rail companies across the UK. The initiative is a key part of the company’s community strategy and the partnership will run until 2018. This is the third UK Charity of Choice partnership that FirstGroup has adopted. More than £5.5m has been raised so far for the previous partnerships with Save The Children and Macmillan Cancer Support. FirstGroup is on course to donate more than £1m in cash and in kind to Macmillan before the current partnership finishes in March 2015.
Anyone with concerns about prostate cancer can contact Prostate Cancer UK’s Specialist Nurses in confidence on 0800 074 8383 or via the online Live chat, instant messaging service at www.prostatecanceruk.org. The Specialist Nurse phone service is free to landlines and open from 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday with late opening until 8pm on Wednesdays.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Ellie Brooke, PR Manager at Prostate Cancer UK, on 020 3310 7135 or at ellie.brooke@prostatecanceruk.org
Stuart Butchers, Group Head of Media at FirstGroup, on 020 7725 3354 or at stuart.butchers@firstgroup.com
Notes to Editors:
About Prostate Cancer UK:
Prostate Cancer UK fights to help more men survive prostate cancer and enjoy a better quality of life. We support men and provide vital information. We find answers by funding research into causes and treatments. And we lead change, raising the profile of the disease and improving care. We believe that men deserve better.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the UK. Over 40,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. Every hour one man dies from prostate cancer. One in four Black men will develop prostate cancer at some point in their lives.
Whether they’ve been diagnosed or are simply concerned about prostate cancer, men can find out about the disease at www.prostatecanceruk.org.
About FirstGroup plc
FirstGroup plc (LSE: FGP.L) is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America. With revenues of more than £6.7 billion and around 117,000 employees in 2013/14, we transported around 2.5 billion passengers last year. Each of our five divisions is a leader in its field: First Student is the largest provider of student transportation in North America with a fleet of around 49,000 yellow school buses, First Transit is one of the largest providers of outsourced transit management and contracting services in the US, while Greyhound is the only national operator of scheduled intercity coach services across North America. In the UK, FirstGroup is one of Britain’s largest bus operators running a fleet of some 6,400 buses, and we are one of the largest operators of passenger rail services in the UK, carrying more than 330 million passengers last year, with experience of running all types of rail network.
Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world, keeping people moving and communities prospering.
Visit our website at: www.firstgroupplc.com
###
Prostate Cancer UK voted as FirstGroup’s new UK Charity of Choice partner