Somerfield staff and customers raise a 'Macmillion'

Macmillan Cancer Support is proud to announce that Somerfield staff and customers have raised over £1 million for people living with cancer this year.  Macmillan was voted Somerfield's charity partner for 2007 – 2008 by staff and customers in March this year.

Since the beginning of the partnership fundraising initiatives including sales promotions, national and regional events, customer giving and staff fundraising have raised an incredible £1 million to enable Macmillan to provide emotional, financial and practical support to those affected by cancer.

With a new theme in store every month, there has been a frenzy of staff fundraising and customer giving throughout the year, with everything from fancy dress karaoke nights to Halloween mummy wrap competitions. Sales of Macmillan products on the tills have been unprecedented with several items including an exclusive shopping bag selling out in just a few weeks.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds have also been raised through sales promotions, enabling customers to give as they buy. These have supported national events including the World's Biggest Coffee Morning and the launch of a new national event to the Macmillan calendar – the Somerfield Big Picnic.

Pete Williams Head of Charity and PR at Somerfield comments,' We have raised a lot of money for Macmillan and we have enjoyed ourselves doing it. It is very important to both our staff and customers to be able to raise money for a cause that they know will make a difference in their local communities."

Ciarán Devane Chief Executive for Macmillan Cancer Support comments:

'We are extremely grateful to Somerfield staff and customers for their tremendous support over the year. The money raised will make a real difference to the lives of local people living with cancer. Thank you all'.

For further information please contact
  Rachel Bloodworth on 0207 840 4993 or rbloodworth@macmillan.org.uk

Notes to Editors.

About Somerfield and Macmillan in partnership

Somerfield staff and customers voted for Macmillan Cancer Support to be its Charity Partner 2007 – 2008 and will be working in partnership with Macmillan to help support people living with cancer. Macmillan aims to reach everyone affected by cancer by 2010 and its partnership with Somerfield will be a big help. The local grocer is involving all of its 44,000 colleagues across its 900 plus stores nationwide in its fundraising efforts and hopes to raise awareness amongst their 9 million customers of the work and services provided by Macmillan.