Foyle Search & Rescue enters new fundraising partnership

The Derry charity is now urging people to join its Switch & Support campaign, which will fund equipment for volunteers on patrol and a new pager system to quicken response times.

The campaign has its own dedicated webpage, www.electricireland.com/foyle, with the energy supplier contributing £10 to the charity for every customer who switches to Electric Ireland via this page.

The appeal started this week and runs until June 13,

Stephen Twells, Chairman of Foyle Search and Rescue, said: “This campaign is for new equipment for our volunteers. In 2015 our volunteers gave over 11,000 hours of unpaid service to the local community. We want to equip them to make sure they stay safe and to make our response times quicker.”

Kevin Caldwell, N.I. Operations Manager of Electric Ireland, spoke of the ambitions for this partnership: “As anyone from Derry knows only too well, Foyle Search and Rescue volunteers carry out life-saving work on the city’s river week after week. At Electric Ireland we feel it important to support this work, particularly as it sits so well with the stream of our corporate responsibility programme that commits to empowering the lives of individuals and communities by supporting suicide prevention.

“This investment in the local community aims to ensure a brighter future for the area and we hope that the Switch & Save campaign will raise the much needed funds for Foyle Search and Rescue to continue its crucial work more effectively.”

In addition to Electric Ireland donating £10 to the charity for every customer who switches, those signing up can choose to double the support by donating £10 of the £50 switching bonus they will receive.