UNITED KINGDOM / AGILITYPR.NEWS / January 09, 2020 / Following an incredible year of fundraising for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, the NEC Group is delighted to announce a total of £46,500 has been raised by staff.

The NEC Group is Europe’s most successful live events businesses, operating the NEC, Resorts World Arena, Arena Birmingham, The Ticket Factory and highly successful hospitality and catering services business, Amadeus.

They’re famous for bringing live events to life across exhibitions, conferences, music, sports and family entertainment, with shows like Crufts, BBC Good Food and more recently, the X Factor, all hosting their events in the NEC Group’s venues.

Each year almost 2,000 staff from the Group choose a charity of the year to raise funds for and in 2019 it was Midlands Air Ambulance Charity. The generosity of staff and customers has gone above and beyond this year, with the Group’s highest ever fundraising total thanks to a combination of cake sales, auctions and raffles led by the NEC Group’s dedicated charity committee, as well as donations from staff ticket offers and collections at the end of year staff awards.

Employees have participated in the Midlands Air Ambulance Choose to Re-use Scheme, by bringing in as many unwanted household items and clothing as possible. These items were then packaged off to the Midlands Air Ambulance charity shops and sold to generate additional funding.

The NEC Group has also joined forces with the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity to educate staff on invaluable life skills. Midlands Air Ambulance’s trainers equipped the NEC Group’s staff with training on how to respond in an emergency situation, administering cardiac arrest support, bleed control and defibrillator usage.

Paul Thandi, NEC Group CEO, said: “Midlands Air Ambulance has been a fantastic charity to work with. Our fundraising will help support critical care in the Midlands, helping to save hundreds of lives each year. Their staff attend some of the most traumatic incidents, responding to events in difficult to reach and rural locations, so I’m personally thrilled that we’ve raised such a massive amount for their vital work and would like to thank them for such a great partnership.

“Our staff do such an excellent job of getting behind our charity fundraising and I’m extremely pleased to announce that our charity of the year for 2020 will be Mind. This is another amazing cause, providing advice and support on mental health.

“Across the NEC Group, we have been doing some great activity to help promote wellbeing and raise awareness for mental health issues. Mind charity is a great fit for this work, and I’m delighted that we will be working with them in 2020.”

Midlands Air Ambulance Charity operates and funds three air ambulances covering six Midlands counties including Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands. To find out more about the Midlands Air Ambulance charity, visit https://www.midlandsairambulance.com/