Hays Travel agents in Northern Ireland have raised more than £18,000 for an autism charity.
The chain, which has 24 branches in Northern Ireland, clubbed together to raise money for charity partner Austism NI.
Each Hays branch receives a £500 budget for charity work in their area, of which £200 is earmarked for charities which support young people’s mental health every year while the other £300 can be used on charities chosen by the branch.
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This year all the Hays Travel teams chose to use their £300 on work for the same cause, through a variety of activities.
Among the highlights were a pub quiz by Hays Travel Coleraine which made more than £1,000 and an abseil down Belfast Castle by Noeleen McKay, foreign exchange sales consultant from the Belfast Park Centre branch.
The branches raised a total of £9,594, much of which was then match funded by the Hays Travel Foundation, resulting in a total of £18,666.
Hays Travel regional sales manager Nicola Allison said: “I’m so proud of our amazing teams across Northern Ireland who have rallied together and worked so hard to raise as much money as possible for this fantastic charity who do vital work to support our autistic community.”
Autism NI corporate fundraising manager Sorcha Mathews said the funding would support the ongoing needs of 35,000 autistic people in Northern Ireland.
She added: “In particular, Hays Travel directly funded free autism support courses for parents and provided hundreds of Early Intervention sessions for families. The support has also funded the Autism NI helpline service which supports over 8,000 people every year.”
Every Hays Travel branch also now has a dedicated member of the team to support autistic travellers after completing training with Autism NI.
Hays Travel’s Local Community Partnership initiative has donated more than £142,642 to local charities across its entire retail network in the last year.