Applegreen on the ball for charity
Staff from two Applegreen forecourts are going head-to-head in a charity football match at Oriel Park tonight.
The Castlebellingham northbound outlet will battle it out with their colleagues from the southbound store in the crunch match taking place at 6.30pm.
Rivalry is strong between both teams, with the southbound store taking the honours at last year’s encounter.
Alongside settling old scores, the game will be benefitting local charities, including Crumlin Children’s Hospital and Anam Cara.
News of the match comes just weeks after the fuel retailer revealed its charitable fund has raised over €1 million in the last five years.
This fund was established in 2009, whereby every time customers make a shop and fuel or a shop-only purchase, one cent of the purchase total is automatically donated to the charitable fund, with an option for customers to track the funds raised at applegreenstores.com.
The money raised for the charities comes directly from the one cent contribution but also from donation boxes at Applegreen tills and sponsored events.
Applegreen customers and 2,200 staff at its 150 service stations have been an integral driver of the €1 million raised for the fund, organising and participating in on and offsite events such as carwash days, static cycles, fancy-dress and fun runs in their local communities.
Over the past five years Applegreen has partnered with LauraLynn, GOAL, The Jack & Jill Foundation, Console and more recently Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin and Anam Cara. The money raised for each charity has been put to excellent use and can be seen in the Bugiri District, Uganda in the housing project for GOAL, the multi-sensory equipment in the LauraLynn House, 4,063 dedicated nursing hours were raised for families part of the Jack & Jill Foundation, increased awareness for Console as the National Suicide Charity, and the ongoing partnership with Crumlin Hospital and Anam Cara.
Bob Etchingham, CEO for Applegreen plc said: “Giving back to our customers and to others has always been central to our Applegreen business and to our people.
“Creating the Charitable Fund allowed us to give something back to communities and to great causes that desperately need our support.
Applegreen have finished their annual charity hill walk already this year taking on the Mourne Mountain Challenge with the year concluding with the NYC Marathon in New York in November.
