SHINE, (Spina Bifida, Hydrocephalus Information, Networking, Equality) provides specialist support from before birth and throughout the life of anyone living with spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus, as well as to parents, families, carers and professional care staff.
Citi Belfast has championed SHINE for the past two years and has raised vital funds to ensure the charity can continue its range of services which support its community of 75,000 individuals. The Charity are on a mission to create a society that meets the needs, values the contribution and celebrates the lives of people living with spina bifida and hydrocephalus.
Speaking of the partnership, Lauren McCoy, Citi Belfast CSR Committee Chair, said:
“Our staff are involved in the entire process of ‘Charity of the year’ selection, everyone is invited to nominate organisations that reflect our company ethos and values that we can partner with to make a real difference in our local community.
SHINE services in Northern Ireland cover the whole region and offer specialist support service teams, access to local services as well as a range of support groups to suit people of all ages. It is something we are extremely proud to support.
At Citi Belfast, we pride ourselves in doing all we can to help our community and the efforts of our staff to support SHINE are testament to that.”
During the partnership, Citi Belfast employees organised several fundraising events which had to be mainly virtual to comply with local restrictions, these included a ‘30k your way’ event, a virtual balloon race and more!
Jo Marriott, Head of Fundraising at SHINE said “The money raised and donated by Citi Belfast has, and will continue, to change lives for babies, children and adults with spina bifida and hydrocephalus in Northern Ireland. Our partnership started just before the pandemic hit the UK. The generous contributions from Citi Belfast colleagues over the past two years have enabled us to keep our services going at a time when our 900+ members have needed us most.”
“It has been an absolute pleasure working with the CSR team at Citi, Belfast as its official charity partner and we would like to extend our sincere thanks to the staff for their truly invaluable support.”
A Northern Ireland Member of SHINE also commented: “The services provided invaluable. You have been with us even before our daughter was born and honestly without Shine things would have seemed a lot harder. You gave us hope at the beginning when we were told not to expect much. As a family we have all benefited from the work you all do: the last 4 years have been made easier with your ongoing support even during the pandemic. Through Shine I have made forever friends who truly understand what life is like for our children on both good days and bad. That feeling of knowing you are not alone is the best thing Shine have done for me. Thank you for my shine family”.
For more information on SHINE how you can support the charity visit: www.shinecharity.org.uk
