Press Release April 2020

Coffee for Cash as Charities Hit Hard Times during Corona Crisis

STAFF at Oldham-based law firm and financial adviser Pearson have been lending a hand at Maggie's cancer centre in the town.#

Like many charities, Maggie's has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

So staff at Pearson are swapping coffee for cash and donating it to the centre.

Suzanne Wright at Pearson explained: “Take away cappuccinos and a latte on the way to work, or meetings in Costa are an everyday occurrence during the working week.

"A flat white to get you through the afternoon is often a must, but with these now taken away from us and all our staff home working we are saving money on the small things.

“As a firm we are still open for business, albeit in a very different way. We’re all working from home and FaceTime and phone meetings and telephone hearings are the new normal, but we didn't want to forget our commitment to our charity during the corona crisis.

“A staff member said she was sad being unable to volunteer at Maggie’s and suggested the coffee scheme, so while we are all home working we are asking staff to pop in a pot all the money they would have spent on drinks and once we are all back at work we will tot it all up and donate to the charity.”

With no NHS or Government funding Maggie’s relies on external assistance to keep open providing essential support for over 10,000 people in Oldham every year.

Staff at Pearson nominated Maggie’s as their charity of the year 2020 and already this year have been showing guests around the centre, hosting information meetings for businesses, working hard cleaning outdoors after a long wet winter, power-washing and generally making coffee for visitors.

Laura Tomlinson, fundraising manager at Maggie’s said:“We are here doing everything we can to support people living with cancer through the Covid-19 emergency by phone, video calls, email and through our online community.

“We understand how the current situation increases stress and anxiety levels for people undergoing treatment, as well as family and friends, but we are here with them offering practical and emotional support to help them cope with the challenging times ahead.

“We absolutely love Pearson’s ideas of coffee for cash – it’s just brilliant.

“Now more than ever we are needed and will continue to be here for everyone with cancer but we can’t do this without the generosity of our supporters, so we want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all at Pearson for thinking of helping Maggie’s during these really difficult times for us all.

“Without their incredible support our work quite simply would not be possible and for that, we can’t thank them enough.”