Co-Ownership is the regional body for shared ownership in Northern Ireland- they operate on a not-for-profit basis to help people buy a home who cannot do so by themselves. The organisation has a strong sense of social purpose and puts people at the heart of what they do. Every year they choose a charity to support and in 2022/23 they have been busy raising funds for Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke (NICHS), which has led to them donating a fantastic £5,170 to the local health charity.
Gillian Lavery from Co-Ownership was responsible for managing the organisation’s fundraising efforts and says; “To have raised more than £5,000 for Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke is really encouraging and not only shows how valuable our partnerships are to the charities we support, but also how important our fundraising efforts are to the team. I really enjoyed organising the fundraising activities. We took part in the charity’s Red Dress Fun Run, had coffee mornings, raffles and staff participated in the Belfast City Marathon. I would like to thank everyone who got involved and donated.”
Mark Graham, Chief Executive of Co-Ownership, said: “Our annual charity partnerships are important to all the team here at Co-Ownership and as an organisation we care for Northern Ireland’s communities and want to support them as best we can. It’s been a fabulous 12 months working with Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke. We have enjoyed a two-way relationship with the charity where they have provided us with health checks for our staff, webinars around improving health and wellbeing and more. In fact, our relationship has been so successful that staff have voted to continue our support of NICHS for a further year.”
Fiona Lockwood, Community Support Officer at Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke says; “We are very thankful to all the staff at Co-Ownership for all their efforts in raising this amazing amount for our charity. Today, there are up to 470,000 people living with a chest, heart or stroke condition in Northern Ireland - that's one in three of the population.”
“Almost 90% of NICHS’s care and prevention services and research projects are funded exclusively by donations so fundraising efforts like Co-Ownership’s are vital for our charity and what we can achieve. The funds raised will enable us to continue to help the local community and provide life-changing services for people living with chest, heart and stroke conditions and their families. We are delighted the staff at Co-Ownership have voted to partner with us for another year and look forward to another great year for our partnership.”
To find out more about ways to support Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke, as a business or as an individual, visit https://nichs.org.uk/how-you-can-help
