This is a guest blog post by Lisa Okawa, Corporate Partnership Manager at Macmillan Cancer Support. Lisa manages the partnership with Fujitsu at Macmillan and overseas the fantastic work we do together.
Christmas is always a time for reflecting on the past year, and when it comes to reflecting on what we achieved during the first year of our partnership with Fujitsu, it’s certainly a great time!
Macmillan started partnering with Fujitsu in November 2016 and together we accomplished a lot in the past 12 months to support people living with cancer.
Some of our highlights included:
- Fujitsu has raised over £114,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Macmillan worked with Fujitsu’s Activ8 team to create and launch 12 contactless card readers, which has so far raised over £12,000 for Macmillan through a variety of events.- Together with Fujitsu colleagues across UK & Ireland, we launched the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning across all Fujitsu sites for the first time. This joint effort raised an amazing £10,000.
- We worked with Fujitsu’s junior talent groups to challenge them to a paper clip swap (starting with a paperclip and exchanging for bigger items) and raised over £17,000, including matched funding from Fujitsu. In addition, Fujitsu graduates donated their time and talent to create innovative solutions to improve how Macmillan can engage corporate partners and challenge events participants.
- Fujitsu staff have also been volunteering their time to support Macmillan in a number of unique ways, including an invaluable business mentoring scheme. This involves Fujitsu expert project managers mentoring and coaching Macmillan project managers so they can develop their personal and professional skills and capabilities.
Then the accomplishment we have been most proud of recently is working with Fujitsu colleagues across the UK to deliver Christmas care packages for people living with cancer. Christmas is a time associated with joy and relaxation. However, a new study has revealed that for those living with cancer this couldn’t be any further from the truth.
- Almost 1 in 5 (19%) parents with cancer – approximately 357,000 people – have struggled at Christmas in the last five years because they have cancer. Many will be too unwell to enjoy time with their family, while others will be struggling with the emotional impact of the disease.
- 38,000 parents with cancer couldn’t afford presents for their children.
- 20,500 mums and dads went without decorations or a tree, and 16,000 without Christmas dinner because of cancer.
We want our partnership to make a difference this Christmas: to help alleviate the financial impact of cancer some families experience during the festive season, our Fujitsu colleagues delivered over 143 Christmas care packages.
Aside from our activity through the partnership with Fujitsu, at Macmillan we are also providing extra support for people affected by cancer this Christmas. This year, the Macmillan Support Line Service (MSL) will be running extended opening hours over the festive period for the very first time so we can reach more people with cancer and their loved ones with practical, clinical, financial and emotional support. The online community will be open 24/7 as always on all days over the festive period including Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been involved with our partnership so far. From giving a donation to donating your time and skills, to organising a fundraising event, you have all contributed so generously!
From all of us at Macmillan Cancer Support
How you can help
As the festive season approaches, please do let your colleagues and people living with cancer know about the support available from Macmillan. Please direct them to www.macmillan.org.uk/christmaswithcancer for further advice.
If you have any questions or would like to find out more about MSL, please email MSLColleagueSupport@macmillan.org.uk
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