Merry Hill backs air ambulance charity
Merry Hill shopping centre has pledged its support to the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, after naming it as its charity of the year for 2021.
Operating three air ambulances and two critical cars across the region, Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has played a crucial role in the local community over the past three decades.
The new partnership will see the shopping destination show its support for the lifesaving service with a number of planned fundraising activities throughout the year, including team and community initiatives.
Pam Hodgetts, corporate partnerships manager for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, said: “Our vitally important emergency service has grown significantly over the last 30 years and it 's thanks to local partners like Merry Hill that we are able to future-proof the service.
“Without this support we wouldn 't be able to invest in our latest project - a purpose-built airbase and charity headquarters, which is set to be ready in 2022 and will benefit patients across the whole of the Midlands.
“By choosing to support us, Merry Hill is helping us to continue making our daily lifesaving missions possible, especially as our operations continue to be funded without Government support. ”
Duncan Burns, marketing manager at Merry Hill, said: “We are excited to announce Midlands Air Ambulance Charity as our new charity partner for 2021. The selfless work carried out by the team has helped save lives across the Midlands for the last three decades and we are incredibly proud to be supporting and partnering with them during this milestone year for the service.
“Merry Hill has always been at the heart of the local community and we look forward to working with our team and visitors to raise much needed funds and awareness for the charity. ”
Midlands Air Ambulance Charity also plans to offer a mutually beneficial partnership including providing lifesaving bystander training to the centre team. The hope is that the training sessions will also be offered to shoppers once restrictions have been completely lifted in the future.
Pictured (l-r): Kyle Wright, security manager for Merry Hill, Steven Mitchell, critical care paramedic for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, Jon Cottrell, senior partnerships executive for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity and Kay Starkey, customer services manager for Merry Hill