Greene King raises £4 million for Macmillan
Melanie May | 17 May 2018 | News
Pub retailer and brewer Greene King has now raised £4 million for its charity partner, Macmillan Cancer Support.
The charity announced the figure during ‘Macmillan May’; a month-long fundraising challenge that sees Greene King pubs across the country take on cake sales, runs, raffles and challenges to raise money for Macmillan. In 2017 the team raised £318,000 across the month of May and hope to beat that this year, taking on challenges in pubs nationwide to raise funds for Macmillan.
2018 marks six years of the partnership. In 2017, Greene King’s support for Macmillan stepped up a gear with the company’s 40,000 staff members launching their ‘Miles for Macmillan’ challenge, where they and customers are attempting to walk, run, bike or swim enough miles to reach the moon. The challenge, which they hope to complete by 2019, has so far seen them take on a London to Paris bike ride and a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro.
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Customers at Greene King pubs and restaurants have also supported the cause through Greene King’s charity desserts, with a donation from sales going directly to Macmillan. Customers who have bought a chocolate brownie or lemon meringue pie among others have raised £500,000 for Macmillan since the partnership began in 2012.
Having originally set out to raise £1 million over three years, Greene King exceeded that target a year early, and in 2015 signed up for another three years of partnership. The money raised by the pub chain funds vital hours of Macmillan professional care, supporting people living with cancer across the UK.
Rooney Anand, chief executive officer at Greene King, said:
“I feel incredibly proud that our team members at Greene King have managed to contribute such an enormous amount towards helping those living with cancer.
“Thank you to everyone who has supported our Macmillan partnership. From our enthusiastic and inspirational pub teams to those who continually put on fundraisers in our offices, and of course our fantastic customers who have supported our fundraising. Reaching £4 million in six years is no mean feat, so it is something we all feel very proud of.”
Lynda Thomas, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, added:
“A huge thank you to everyone at Greene King – both team members and guests – who have run, climbed and baked to raise this fantastic sum. At Macmillan we know that by 2030 the number of people living with cancer in Britain will have increased to over four million, making Greene King’s support more valuable than ever.”
- Greene King raises £5 million for Macmillan (13 February 2019)
- A pint of your best charity ale please: a round-up of fundraising beers (13 March 2020)
- Bloody good beer for a bloody good cause (5 December 2020)
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.