20 March 2008 15:24
E.ON employees get running to raise money for the Air Ambulance in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire

Two colleagues from E.ON's Cottam Development Centre and Killingholme Power Station are helping the Air Ambulance to fly high across Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire after raising more than £8,500 during 2007.

The fundraising was kick-started by shift operator John Cubbison, who was due to run the London Marathon but had to pull out due to an injury.

Luckily, John's colleague, Roger Newman, was also running the marathon and John persuaded all of his sponsors to support Roger instead.

Thanks to Roger's efforts, and the generosity of John's sponsors, the pair managed to raise £5,780 between them, plus a further £1,500 that the Air Ambulance was able to claim in Gift Aid.

For John, the Air Ambulance is a cause which is very close to his heart, after the team saved his life following a serious car accident two years ago.

John said "The doctors told me that I might not have pulled through if it hadn't been for the Air Ambulance, as I arrived at hospital within the ‘golden hour', and this would not have happened if I'd gone by road ambulance.

"I really wanted to do something to thank them, and even though I wasn't able to run on the day, I'm delighted that we were able to raise such a large sum of money.

"E.ON has also helped add to the collection by matching funds that we raised from a Christmas raffle.

"The Air Ambulance service relies on charitable donations to be able to rescue people like me, so I'm really pleased that the whole team has got behind our fundraising effort."

E.ON UK supports its employees' favourite charities by matching funds raised through sponsorship and other activities undertaken in employees' own time. E.ON will match up to the value of £500 per employee per year or up to £3,000 for a group.

Ends

Notes to editors:

• In 2007, E.ON UK donated almost £180,000 through matched funding to the charities supported by 1,169 employees;
• In 2007, 3,269 E.ON UK employees (representing nearly one in five employees) took part in at least one energy in the community volunteering programme, raising a total of £476,368 for good causes and volunteering a total of 45,866 hours;
• E.ON is one of the UK's largest integrated power and gas companies - generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas - and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and Gas Company. We employ around 17,000 people in the UK.

For further information contact:

Deanna Mooney on 024 7618 3678