SUEZ recycling and recovery UK celebrates fundraising milestone of £475k for Macmillan Cancer Support

Now in its ninth year of partnership with Macmillan, SUEZ staff set out to make 2021 their biggest fundraising year yet after the charity, like many others, was badly affected by the pandemic. Recognising that cancer affects us all, SUEZ chose Macmillan as its corporate charity partner in 2013 and has set itself increasingly ambitious fundraising targets.

This year’s main event, the Big Climb, saw SUEZ teams climbing hills from Surrey to Scotland in their efforts to raise money to help Macmillan provide support to people living with cancer, including advice on treatment, emotional support, financial advice and nurses, as well as advocating for better cancer care. Coffee mornings, a sponsored sky dive and head shave, raffles, a golf day and an entry to the London marathon were just some of the other activities staff participated in throughout the year in their bid to hit the £100,000 target.

John Scanlon, Chief Executive Officer for SUEZ recycling and recovery UK said: “Cancer sadly touches us all and I’m proud of the way our people have embraced our partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support, coming together to smash our target for 2021 and raise £160,540 this year, taking us to over £475,500 since we started working with Macmillan in 2013. All of this is made possible by our network of Macmillan champions who help to coordinate our activities throughout the year, and I’d like to thank everyone who has helped make 2021 our best year yet.”

SUEZ’s network of Macmillan Champions includes people like Regional Health and Safety Manager, Jason Goymer, based in the Midlands, who climbed Snowdon with members of his team earlier this year and was instrumental in the company-wide raffle for much sought after Play Station 5 consoles, Jason said: “I started supporting charity events some years ago. Macmillan came to the forefront when my father was diagnosed with blood cancer – a strain of leukaemia. Since then, it has progressed and it’s now unfortunately terminal. My sister has also recently been diagnosed with stage four cancer, so it is quite prevalent in my family. Becoming a SUEZ Macmillan charity champion was the ideal thing for me, to enable me to help raise money for the people that support people like my father. At the end of the day, I can’t cure anyone, but I can raise money for the people that look after them.”

Cornwall based Operations Administrator, Clare Coad, also a Macmillan Champion organised a challenge for the Cornwall team to collectively rack up the equivalent miles it would take to circumnavigate their way around the coastline of mainland Britain, Clare said: “As with last year’s challenge, we all came together as a team and supported each other. It allowed us to get outside, stay active, and enjoy the great outdoors at a very uncertain time for everyone. I am so proud to support the amazing work that Macmillan do providing physical, financial and emotional support to the millions of people that count on them. The charity is also very close to my heart, having sadly lost family and friends to cancer in the past.”

Adam Nash, Senior Partnerships Development Manager at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “We are incredibly proud of our partnership with SUEZ recycling and recovery UK which has raised a fantastic £160,000 for Macmillan in 2021. This fundraising will help Macmillan continue to do whatever it takes for the 3 million people currently living with cancer in the UK.”