THE old saying about taking care of the pennies has been proved true thanks to generous customers of Topps Tiles.
The firm said it has donated £250,000 to Macmillan Cancer Care through its digital charity box scheme. And almost half of the money raised came from its south east stores including Wokingham’s Molly Millars Lane branch.
The tile specialist introduced the Pennies scheme in 2016 to allow customers to round up their bill to the nearest pound for the charity. Since then, customers have been donating their pennies to Topps Tiles’ charity partner, Macmillan Cancer Support.
Collectively, if the donations were lined up end to end, there would be enough pennies to cover the 95-storey London skyscraper, The Shard, four times over.
Matthew Williams, chief executive officer of Topps Tiles said, “We are incredibly grateful to our customers for their generosity in supporting Macmillan Cancer Support, our chosen charity partner, through Pennies.
“Reaching £250,000 is a significant milestone but to do it just nine months after reaching £100,000 is an incredible achievement.”
Topps Tiles colleagues have also been donating through its champion network, with core events taking place across its head office in Leicester and its 370 stores nationwide.
A range of fundraising activities including taking part in Macmillan’s annual Coffee Morning event raised almost £150,000.
The firm also supported Macmillan’s 2017 campaign Just Say the Word, which focuses on raising awareness around men and cancer in partnership with other Macmillan partners in the construction industry sector. The business has also made a commitment to support the campaign again in 2018.
Gini Smith, partnership manager at Macmillan, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the amazing support shown by Topps Tiles’ colleagues and customers over the last few years. By choosing to support Macmillan through employee fundraising and the Pennies scheme means we can be there for people affected by cancer when they need us most.
“Our partnership with Topps Tiles is a great example of a successful long-term charity partnership and the positive impact this can have in raising awareness and income to
fund support and services in every community for people and their families living with cancer.”