Tag: Scot Baby Box Appeal

Amazon Dunfermline Donates to Children’s Charities

THREE Glasgow-based charities have received donations totalling £1,500 from the Amazon fulfilment centre in Dunfermline.

Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, CHAS and Scot Baby Box Appeal have received £500 each following nominations for support from the team at Amazon in Dunfermline.

Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity supports those who care for and nurture young lives at their most vulnerable. The charity also invests in equipment, research and the continued improvement of facilities and services for children and families in hospital.

Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) offers a full family support service for babies, children and young people with life-shortening conditions. Through their hospices, home care services and hospital presence, CHAS provides palliative care, family respite and support. The charity’s hub in Glasgow offers a range of fundraising events such as the Glasgow Lunch and Glasgow Kiltwalk.

Scot Baby Box Appeal, based in Glasgow and Lanarkshire, sends support in the form of pre-loved baby boxes, humanitarian aid and other essential items to those in need in Ukraine.

Jamie Strain, General Manager at Amazon in Dunfermline, said: “I am glad to make donations to these great charities across Glasgow.

“We are passionate supporters of their work in the community and are so pleased to be able to help in any small way.”

Lara MacDonald, Senior Corporate Partnerships Executive from CHAS, said: “We are very grateful to the Amazon team in Dunfermline for their support.

“Their donation is so appreciated here at CHAS. Thank you so much Jamie and the team for your continued support.”

Megan Wright, an employee from Amazon in Dunfermline, added: “All three of these charities provide invaluable services across Scotland and I’m so grateful that we can support them through donations like this.”

Community donations and employee volunteering are just two of the ways Amazon supports the communities where it operates.

Amazon co-founded the Multibank initiative with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to support families in poverty.

The first Multibank, ‘The Big Hoose’, opened in Fife providing surplus essentials like nappies, toilet rolls, toothpaste and school uniforms, donated by Amazon and others, directly to those in need.

The initiative has gone on to donate more than 2 million goods to over 200,000 families across Scotland and Greater Manchester.

Amazon also helps community organisations transport meals and other essentials to families in need through its pro bono logistics programme, Amazon Local Good, including more than seven million healthy breakfasts to children at risk of hunger in partnership with Magic Breakfast.

Amazon partners with Comic Relief to help people tackle poverty and is the official home of the charity’s iconic Red Nose.

Last year, together with its employees, customers, and partners, Amazon raised over £2.7 million to fund projects that support people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and tackle issues such as homelessness, mental health problems, and food insecurity across the UK, and around the world.

Gill nominated for Amazon Star award

An Amazon employee who goes the extra mile for the community in Dunfermline received a special surprise this week when she was nominated for a national Amazon Star award.

Gill Cura, who works at Amazon’s fulfilment centre in Dunfermline as a senior HR business partner, was nominated for the award by her colleagues at Amazon.

Gill, who has worked at Amazon for a year and a half, is a passionate supporter of the local community in her spare time. It’s this support, which includes her contribution to the Scot Baby Box Appeal, that has seen Gill receive a nomination in this year’s Amazon Stars awards programme.  

Now in its third year, Amazon Stars is a UK-wide campaign that recognises and rewards Amazon employees who make an outstanding contribution to the local community by using their skills, time and knowledge to help others. 

Gill’s support of her community means she could win one of three Dream Boxes – the top prize awarded as part of the Amazon Stars programme. A Dream Box, worth up to £1,500, is a personalised prize to honour Amazon’s community heroes. Gill will find out in the coming weeks if she has won a Dream Box. 

Gill was nominated for the award by her colleagues for her contribution to the Scot Baby Box Appeal, a Scotland-based charity supporting mothers and new-born babies in Ukraine.

The Scot Baby Box Appeal was created during the start of the Ukraine war. Across Scotland, new mothers receive a baby box which is full of essentials catering for babies from birth to six months. Jackie Crawford, founder of the Scot Baby Box Appeal, requested for baby boxes from her local community to be donated to Ukraine, kickstarting a charity campaign with far-reaching influence.

Gill offered her services to Jackie after seeing news articles about how Ukrainian women had to give birth in dangerous and unhygienic areas due to the risk of bombing at hospitals in the country. This moved Gill, and she wanted to provide anything she could for the new mothers in Ukraine. This specifically included her baby box that was provided by the Scottish government.

Gill soon became heavily involved with the charity, organising local drop off points across Scotland and running fundraising events to raise awareness of the cause. She is now a trustee for the charity and has helped to donate over 4,000 baby boxes to Ukrainian people which include baby essentials; food and medicine for new mothers, expecting women and new-born babies.

Speaking after learning of her nomination in this year’s awards, Gill said: “As a new mum myself, it felt very personal for me to be able to help other mums and new-born babies in need across Ukraine. 

“We all hope and pray the war will soon be over in Ukraine, but sadly, there will always be a location in the world where people are in need. The Scot Baby Box Appeal is now starting to look at families in need in Scotland, too, particularly with the cost-of-living crisis. I am honoured to have been nominated for an Amazon Star award for what I do.”

She added: “The best thing about working at Amazon is the team and its support. I’m encouraged to talk and raise awareness about the Scot Baby Box Appeal on site and colleagues have donated to the charity.

“My manager and the senior leadership team at Amazon are behind what I’m doing, and they give me the space and time to make sure I can do my job at Amazon and still have time to focus on my charity work.”

Jamie Strain, General Manager at Amazon in Dunfermline, added: “The Amazon Stars programme is our way of saying thank you to our colleagues who go above and beyond to have a positive impact on the community.

“Gill does some incredible work with charities and community organisations in Scotland and everyone at Amazon in Dunfermline is proud of her. Gill is fully deserving of this fantastic nomination, and I wish her the best of luck ahead of the big reveal of this year’s winners.”  

Last year, the three winners were: Aizaz Hussain, a spoken-word artist who dedicates his time and his art to helping people with mental health struggles; Phil Hayden, a dedicated NHS volunteer who has also made more than 600 blood donations over the past 36 years; and Richard Burtenshaw, a community children’s football coach who found creative ways of keeping the players active during lockdown.