L-R: Mary Cassidy from MACE and Jackie Trainor, Director of Income Generation at NICHS.
Staff and customers from MACE stores across Northern Ireland have raised a staggering £40,000 for Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke (NICHS) throughout 2022. MACE began working with the charity in 2016 and since then the partnership has gone from strength to strength, helping rebuild the lives of thousands of local people living with chest, heart and stroke conditions.
Over the past year, members of staff from across 80 MACE stores have taken part in a variety of fundraising events including static cycles, raffles, Jolly Jumper Days and Christmas competitions. To celebrate International Coffee Day, MACE also donated 50p from the sale of every Frank and Honest coffee purchased in-store over a three-day period to the charity.
The partnership has thrived over the past 7 years, and to date, MACE have raised an extraordinary £267,000 to help support NICHS’s work across Northern Ireland. The retailer is not only involved with raising funds, but also actively supports the charity’s health awareness campaigns, like last year’s focus on blood pressure.
As part of the campaign, MACE supported the charity’s blood pressure awareness messaging through their social media channels, as well as in-store with posters and flyers to highlight the link between heart attacks and strokes and undetected high blood pressure to customers and staff. MACE also worked with Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke’s Health Promotion team to give local communities the opportunity to access free, pop-up blood pressure checks in-store.
MACE Sales Manager Austin McGrath took the opportunity to have his blood pressure checked at one of the events. He explains; “MACE Ederney hosted a pop-up blood pressure check for customers and staff in December. My blood pressure showed as high and the NICHS Health Promotion Officer advised me to contact my GP to get help to reduce my blood pressure.”
“NICHS’s key message about blood pressure is that one in two heart attacks and strokes are linked to undetected high blood pressure, so I’m thankful that my high blood pressure was detected, and I was able to take action before something serious could have happened. We were very proud to help NICHS promote their vital blood pressure awareness campaign.”
Mary Cassidy from MACE adds; “I am very proud of our staff and customers who have put in a tremendous effort to help raise such an incredible amount. I would like to thank everyone who supported our fundraising events and gave so generously.
“It was also fantastic to be able to play our part in supporting NICHS’s blood pressure awareness campaign. MACE is at the heart of local communities across Northern Ireland, and we were delighted to be able to offer pop-up blood pressure checks to our customers and staff. We look forward to another year of working with the charity and getting involved with lots of great initiatives.”
Jackie Trainor, Director of Income Generation at Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke adds; “We are so grateful for the ongoing generosity of MACE, their staff and customers who, over the years, have ensured that thousands of people affected by chest, heart or stroke related conditions have received the support and care that they deserve. We would like to say a huge thank you for raising this tremendous sum of money as nearly 90% of our care and prevention services and research are funded exclusively by donations from the public. Fundraising efforts like MACE’s are vital to the work we do.”
“MACE’s support of our blood pressure awareness campaign was fantastic. It helped us deliver our message around the importance of knowing your blood pressure numbers and the risk of heart attack and stroke associated with undetected high blood pressure to many people throughout Northern Ireland. 120 people were signposted to their GP after availing of the pop-up blood pressure checks in MACE stores and it is amazing to think lives have potentially been saved because of this.”
