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LabLogic Donation Just The Job For Sheffield Kids’ Charity

Sheffield-based Amy’s Retreat is the latest charity to benefit from an unusual Employee of The Month scheme operated by local drug research software and equipment company LabLogic Systems.

Each month staff at the Melbourne Avenue firm decide who should receive the award– and the winner chooses a charity to which a £250 donation should be sent.

It was administrator Kate Botros who nominated Amy’s Retreat. “I wanted the money to go to a local charity, and I could see that the work they do is undoubtedly of benefit to the people they are trying to help,” she said.

Amy’s Retreat was set up by Stephen and Joanne Hall from Shiregreen in memory of their daughter Amy, who died at the age of five after a three year battle with cancer. It provides families in similar circumstances with much-needed quality time away from day to day routines. Currently the charity funds Center Parcs holidays for this purpose, but in the long term it hopes to build a dedicated holiday home bearing Amy’s name.

Kate Botros is pictured at the cheque presentation with Gabrielle Latham from Amy's Retreat and LabLogic managing director Richard Brown.

Other LabLogic employees have chosen to donate ‘their’ £250 to many other good causes, such as Asthma UK, the British Heart Foundation, the specialist acute stroke unit at Calderdale Royal Hospital, Cancer Research, and the Royal British Legion.

Designers Help Build Amy’s Retreat

Amy's Retreat, the Sheffield based charity set up to help families who have children with cancer, has recruited design and marketing experts, mmdesign to help increase donations for the building of a brand new holiday home.

‘Buy a Brick and Build Amy’s Retreat’ is one of many ideas that mm have come up with to get things moving. Jayne O’Keefe, senior designer at mmdesign said: “We’re only too glad to be helping Amy’s Retreat. The design work we are doing on the new Amy’s Retreat logo and their campaign literature is helping increase donations and provide the much needed breaks that families who have children with cancer need”.

Jayne, who recently completed the London marathon and raised over £1700, has been the lead designer working on Amy’s Retreat.

Gabrielle Latham from Amy’s Retreat, who lost her own daughter to cancer 11 years ago, said: “We want to create a special place, a haven for families whose time with their children is precious. It would provide an essential break that families in this situation so desperately need. I’m so glad to have found mmdesign, whose work will really help galvanise people into helping us raise the money we need.”

Martin Hinchcliffe of mmdesign said: “We are delighted to be involved. Not only because we are helping to make a difference to the families concerned but we want to know that our hard work is making a difference to customers’ lives and making a positive impact in the world around us. Job satisfaction is about so much more than salary and this project really illustrates that fact. We are proud to be able to add to the success of Amy’s Retreat and the well-being of the families they serve.”

The mmdesign design team and other Amy’s Retreat supporters are abseiling off the 80 foot viaduct in Millers Dale, Derbyshire on Sunday 12 July.