Animal loving Nexus employees have raised over £6,000 for Bryson’s Animal Shelter, following a year of fundraising activities.
The money was officially handed over at a cheque presentation at the Shelter, where Tracy and Lynne from Bryson’s were joined by Nexus employees, Sarah and Hayley, who had spent time volunteering there.
Bryson’s Animal Shelter, in Wrekenton, Gateshead, was founded in 1947 and has been re-homing cats, dogs and small animals since then. Their dedicated team of staff and volunteers look after their animals 24 hours a day, every day, and in an average year they rehome over 150 dogs and over 200 cats.
The shelter costs over £250,000 a year to run and they rely completely on fundraising and donations to fund them.
Cathy Massarella, Managing Director at Nexus, said: “I’m really proud of our teams who have spent the last year raising this fantastic sum of money and donating their time and other items to Bryson’s.
“We’ve got a lot of animal lovers here, so employees were keen to get involved in all kinds of fundraising to help this really worthy local cause. Thank you to everyone who donated, took part in activities or organised events.
“Every year we ask our colleagues to nominate and vote on what charity they would like to support corporately, that means we’re always supporting causes that are closest to their hearts.”
Tracy Holmes, Manager at Bryson’s, said: “I want to say a massive thank you to everyone at Nexus for choosing to support us.
“You have raised a fantastic amount of money, which really will make a difference. We are replacing a very old kennel block this year, and your £6000 will be used to help with this build.
“Your volunteers and regular donations of food and cleaning products have also been a huge help to us, thank you so much.”
Funds were raised via a range of methods, including raffles, coffee mornings, quizzes and wellbeing walks plus sales of lost property, Metro merchandise and cakes.
Over the last year 33 Nexus employees also spent a day volunteering at Bryson’s, helping walk the dogs and play with the cats. A company Volunteering Policy encourages Nexus employees to take a paid day away from their usual duties to volunteer for local charities in their communities.
Hayley Mitchell, Customer Service Advisor at Nexus, was one of the volunteers. She said: “I loved my day volunteering, I’ve always loved animals and have worked with them in the past, so I jumped at the chance to spend a day at the Shelter walking the dogs.
“It’s great that we have the opportunity to do that and get paid for it. I’ll definitely be going back up to do more volunteering in my own time.”
The charity was chosen by Nexus employees, who nominate and vote on a local charity to support each year.