Bingo industry celebrates raising over £1.6m* for Variety and over £20,000 for DEC Ukraine appeal
The Bingo Association has donated a cheque for £23,000 to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. Th money was raised from bingo games held in bingo clubs across the country on Friday 24th June as part of celebrations leading up to National Bingo Day, on Monday 27th June.
The cheques was presented to the DEC by Miles Baron, CEO of The Bingo Association during the Associations biannual Parliamentary Reception on Thursday 8th September. The event brought together over 130 bingo club players, staff and other industry representative alongside MPs, to celebrate the bingo industry’s contribution to causes and communities across the UK.
Representatives from The Bingo Association’s Charity Partner, Variety, the Children’s Charity, also attended the event alongside students and tutors from Newfriars College in Stoke-on-Trent, to whom Variety and members of The Bingo Association donated the most recent Sunshine Coach in June.
The Bingo Association’s initiative with Variety is just one example of hoe the industry and individual clubs have been supporting local communities over the past years, particularly during the pandemic. Club staff and Club Charity Champions have worked tirelessly throughout Covid to reach out to customers and colleagues to ensure they were coping in difficult times.
Miles Baron, CEO of The Bingo Association, said:
“I am delighted to welcome colleagues, partners, players and parliamentary supporters in coming together to celebrate the fantastic difference the bingo industry has been making in local communities during very tough times. I am very proud that our National Bingo Day games have been able to raise such a significant sum in just one day to support the people of Ukraine. I cannot emphasise enough how tirelessly our representatives have worked to support customers and communities through the challenges of recent years. O also thank those who have supported the games of bingo throughout this times to help ensure the majority of clubs were able to survive the pandemic, and can continue their great work in the years to come.”
Sonja Ashbury, from the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), said:
“We would like to thank The Bingo Association for the money raised during National Bingo Day to support people affected by the conflict in Ukraine. We are proud to be one fo the causes that the bingo industry has supported and are delighted to have come together to celebrate the difference made by bingo. We know The Bingo Association and its members will keep up its fantastic work supporting important causes and thank them for the difference this will make to those we are supporting in Ukraine.”
Lyn Staunton, from Variety, the Children’s Charity, said:
“We are so proud of our long-standing partnership with The Bingo Association which has continually made such a difference to the children and young people we support across the country. It has been a joy to come together to celebrate the work by the bingo industry to support causes like ours, and we are particularly glad to be able to bring pupils form mew friars College to experience Parliament first-hand. We look forward to continuing our fantastic work with The Bingo Association and keep making a difference for the children we support.”