Poole-based Alfatronix Ltd has pledged to donate £500 every month to the Dorset Cancer Care Foundation (DCCF), to help the growing number of local families facing financial hardship because of the disease.
The company, based in Newtown Business Park donated £5k to the DCCF at the beginning of this year.
Now MD Andy Hadfield has committed to a monthly donation and has appealed for other businesses to help.
Andy said: “Alfatronix serves a global market, but at its heart it is a local firm employing local people, and for this reason we were keen to support a charity which is making a real difference in our community.
“Sadly, most of us, including team members at Alfatronix. have been affected by cancer in some way.
“Having learned of how the DCCF is actively helping local people who are facing often terrible financial struggles because of cancer, we were keen to get behind them.”
The DCCF steps in when families are having to cope with the dual stresses of cancer and a loss of earnings. The charity can help people pay for accommodation costs, utility and even food bills, to help them keep their heads above water while they can’t work due to treatment.
Andy continued: “I think I can speak for everyone at Alfatronix when I say we are extremely proud to be supporting that work.
“We hope other businesses will also come forward to offer their help.”
Alfatronix, founded in Poole in 1979, designs and manufactures voltage converters and onboard charging products for a wide range of industries including the automotive, rail and marine markets. These products, which are manufactured in Poole by the company’s 60-strong workforce, are exported throughout the world as well as being used by locally.
The DCCF was set up in 2012 by three Poole women to help cancer patients and their families here in Dorset. Since that time, its supporters have funded £730k in non-returnable grants to patients facing hardship.
Jannine Loveys, Fundraising Manager for the DCCF said: “We are very lucky to have the support of some great local businesses. The news that Alfatronix will be donating to us on a monthly basis is fabulous as it means we can actively factor their donations into our fundraising targets – targets which are being constantly increased to cope with the growing demand for our help during these costly times.”
She continued: “As with all our sponsors, Alfatronix will receive regular publicity via our media platforms, updates on how their money is helping local people, and also the chance to be involved with our popular public events.
“If there are other companies or businesses out there which are interested in helping Dorset people who are struggling because of cancer, we would ask them to please get in touch.”
For more information please email: charitymanager@dccf.co.uk