The amazing fundraising work of one of our employees is being highlighted on ITV Border this evening.
Shona Cunningham was nominated for the ‘Fundraiser of the Year’ for all her efforts during lockdown.
Shona, who works in project delivery at our office at Westlakes Science Park, near Whitehaven, is one of just four regional finalists in this year’s Pride of Britain Awards.
She was nominated for the ‘Fundraiser of the Year’ category after her amazing work at the beginning of lockdown to help the communities of West Cumbria.
Starting off raising funds to buy food packs for health professionals in the area, Shona saw things escalate rapidly – pulling in £1,000 in the first day, and making a total of £30,000 by week 12.
Using her project management skills, she was able to bring together a team who worked with local businesses to create the food packs, which were sent out across the communities around the Sellafield site and spread as far as Barrow and Carlisle.
With so much money rolling in, Shona realised that there was more the campaign could do.
Shona said: “At the end of April I changed strategy on it and I decided to pay nurses their annual £120 registration fee, which they have to pay to the nursing and midwifery council. I created a database of all nominated nurses and randomly selected names from it.
“By the end we’d paid 170 registration fees, and delivered 400 parcels to 104 different places across West Cumbria.
“ITV Border will be showcasing the region’s 4 finalists from 6:00pm this evening (29th September), and Shona will find out if she’s through to the national final early next week.”
