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Dalata Hotel Group, the largest hotel operator in Ireland, with a growing presence in the United Kingdom and continental Europe, today announces it will be supporting the Marie Keating Foundation, Leukaemia Care and Air Ambulance Northern Ireland as the company’s three charity partners over the next three years.
The partnerships are part of the group’s Dalata Digs Deep initiative which sees fundraising activities taking place at all 47 of the company’s hotels across Ireland, the UK and continental Europe.
As an employee driven initiative, it was decided through an employee vote that ‘Health and Wellbeing’ would be a core focus for the next fundraising period. The three charities were selected by Dalata’s dedicated Charity Committee who looked at specific charities focused on improving lives, with each charity representing a different geographical region (Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
Dalata Hotel Group, which operates Clayton and Maldron Hotels, raised an incredible €1.5 million for its previous charity partners through employee fundraising and matching corporate donations.
Dalata Hotel Group’s Chief Operating Officer, Des McCann said the company is proud to be continuing its charity work to support Leukaemia Care over the coming years.
He said: “Great consideration has gone into selecting our new charity partners for the next three years. Our approach is to engage with our teams to understand the issues they care about which then allows Dalata and the charity to build a more meaningful partnership over a three year period. Our teams get to know the organisations for which they are raising the funds really well and it means we can target our energy and resources to where they produce maximum benefit for the charities and their clients.
“All of our charities are focussed on helping to save lives. We know the pandemic has put health care providers under extreme strain, both in Ireland and the UK, therefore it was important to us to select charities which do so much great work in helping to support our health services.”
Claire Oliver McGarry, Group HR Manager at Dalata Hotel Group, said Dalata Digs Deep has grown into a major fundraising driver which has the power to make a significant difference to the charities it supports.
She said: “When we started out, we could never have imagined how engaged our people would become with this initiative and how it would enrich the lives of so many within Dalata, working together for worthy causes.
“Our people really go above and beyond when it comes to supporting fundraising activities, without them Dalata Digs Deep could not have raised the huge sums of money it has to date.
“I want to pay tribute to all of the Dalata staff, and I am excited to see what our next chapter of supporting these three great charities brings.”
Leukaemia Care is a blood cancer support charity dedicated to ensuring that anyone affected by blood cancer in Great Britain receives the right information, advice and support. The Dalata partnership will support leukaemia patients aged between 0-25 years old. The hotel group will be providing long stay accommodation close to the hospital that can administer a new treatment called CAR-T. Only 9 hospitals in GB offer this treatment and the locations match conveniently with Dalata hotels, with this project ensuring it is possible for patients to get the treatment they need.
Zack Pemberton-Whiteley, CEO of Leukaemia Care added, ‘We’re delighted to be working with an international hospitality brand to help provide a support service for leukaemia patients that hasn’t been seen before. As well as providing this practical service, we’re looking forward to working with employees across the brand not only to fundraise but to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of leukaemia. Over the next three years we hope to work across the Dalata brand and help to drive our own strategic goals which include improving diagnosis through awareness and early detection, ensuring everyone receives high quality information and advice, tackling issues that impact people’s lives, advancing treatment and care and creating a public narrative which better reflects the reality people affected by leukaemia experience.’
Dalata’s fundraising efforts this year will include teams seeking sponsorship as they undertake challenges such as the Cork City Marathon 2022 in June and a range of activities for Dalata Digs Deep Week in September, a key week for raising charitable donations across all hotels.
For more information on the Dalata Hotel Group visit www.dalatahotelgroup.com