Nexus staff raise more than £9,500 for a Newcastle-based cancer charity

Following a year of fundraising activities, including a skydive, Nexus staff have managed to raise £9,600 for the Daft As A Brush Cancer Patient Care.

Daft As A Brush, which is based in Newcastle, transport up to 100 cancer patients a day to hospital appointments across the North East, free of charge.

The organisation relies solely on charity fundraising to buy and run their 30 patient transport vehicles, which they call ambulances.

The vehicles are driven by volunteers and Daft As A Brush was chosen by Nexus employees, who nominate and vote a local charity to support each year.

The money was officially handed over during a cheque presentation on the concourse of the Central Metro station, in Newcastle city centre.

Cathy Massarella, managing director of Nexus, has expressed her pride at the effort that staff have put in to raise such a large amount of money.

She commented: “I’m really proud of our teams who have spent the last year raising this fantastic sum of money for Daft As A Brush.

“Lots of employees got involved in all kinds of fundraising, including jumping out of aeroplanes, to help this really worthy local cause.

“Thank you to everyone who donated money, took part in activities or organised events.

“The charity relies on donations, so I’m delighted that we can donate almost £10,000, an incredible amount, which will be a significant help to them.”

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David Wilson, development manager at Daft As A Brush, has thanked Nexus for their efforts and has explained how the money will help the charity.

He said: “I want to say a massive thank you to everyone at Nexus for choosing to support us.

“You have raised a fantastic amount of money, which supports the running of our service and supporting cancer patients across the region.

“We receive no government funding so are extremely grateful for donations like these. 

“This amount will mean we can support about 1,000 cancer treatment journeys, in terms of fuel for our vehicles and support for our volunteers.”

Nexus employees raised the money via a range of methods, including a skydive, raffles, coffee mornings, bingo sessions and more.

Daft As A Brush volunteers were also able to collect more than £300 through a bucket collection at Monument Metro station.