Yorkshire science company Lubrizol has kicked off a two-year fundraising campaign for a charity providing Happy Days out for more than 30,000 children a year who are living with physical, mental and emotional difficulties.
At its Huddersfield and Barnsley sites, staff at science company Lubrizol have been busy organising bake sales to start off two years’ fundraising for Happy Days Children’s Charity, which last year supported 33,561 children across the UK.
Lubrizol, which also has sites in Manchester and Derbyshire, supports a different charity every two years and has just handed over £18,027.16 to life-saving St John Ambulance after raising the money during 2023 and 2024.
Rob Cox, fundraising and marketing manager for Happy Days Children’s Charity, said support from Lubrizol would make a huge difference to the small charity which has a big impact despite only having eight members of staff.
Happy Days organises trips to places including the seaside, the theatre and activity centres for children who are living with issues including physical disabilities, learning difficulties, or going through bereavement.
An army of volunteers including teachers and carers accompany the children on their days out so they can make friends, enjoy new experiences, and have a great time for the day.
Explaining the impact of the small charity across the UK, Rob said: “Everybody understands that going for a fun day out, is fun. Everybody understands that children are going to have a great time and are going to look forward to it, but it’s so much more than that.
“It’s about escaping isolation, going out and doing something rather than being at home doing nothing. It gives them the chance to feel like other children and forget about their worries for a while. A simple day out can have so many positive knock-on effects.”
Rob said support from Lubrizol would be “life-changing” as there is huge demand for the charity’s services which meant families have in the past had to wait a long time for help.
He said: “We receive absolutely no government funding so we rely totally on organisations like Lubrizol. Thank you so much for choosing us as your charity. We are massively grateful and the support that Lubrizol gives us is going to be life changing for us as a small charity.
“We will get calls from families who maybe should have called us three or four years earlier. The additional support from Lubrizol is key to being able to say to those families that we can help them within a month or two, rather than them having to wait longer.”
Sinead Quinn from Lubrizol’s Huddersfield site, said: “We always enjoy a cake sale at Lubrizol and we’re delighted that our efforts in Huddersfield and Barnsley have helped kick start two years of fundraising for Happy Days Children’s Charity which is doing such great work in communities up and down the country. Thanks to Lubrizol’s match funding scheme we have been able to raise a good amount of money which we know the charity will put to great use.”
Happy Days Children’s Charity supports children across the UK and the charity has said support from Lubrizol will fund days out for families living in the areas served by the company’s sites in Huddersfield, Barnsley, Manchester and Derbyshire.
Lubrizol has previously paid for 60 children to enjoy a day out in Skegness through the Happy Days Children’s Charity.
As well as raising more than £18,000 for St John Ambulance, Lubrizol has also donated £22,931 to many worthy causes over the same two-year period, with beneficiaries including suicide prevention charity Andy’s Man Club, and the much-loved Hug on a Tray charitable group which provides TV and goody bags for blood cancer patients at the Leeds Cancer Centre.
This story was written and shared on behalf of Lubrizol by Lucy Stephens. Can we share your news and get you in the headlines too? Find out how we can help by getting in touch.
