Lloyds Charity Challenge
Date: 4th June
2008
Contact: Claire
Duncan
Phone: +44(0)20 8394 8345
Email: c.duncan@samaritans.org
Out of hours press phone: +44(0)7943
809162
Lloyd’s teams battle it out to be crowned charity
challenge champions
More than 100 underwriters and brokers
gathered in the Old Library at Lloyd’s today for the official
launch of Lloyd’s Charity Challenge.
Eleven teams from the Lloyd’s market are
taking part in the month long charity competition organised by
Lloyd’s Community Affairs team. Each of the teams competing
in the challenge will be raising awareness and funds for Lloyd’s
Charities Trust’s partner charities: Coram, Farm-Africa and
Samaritans.
Laying down the challenges and assessing the
teams’ progress each week is Lloyd’s Chairman, Lord Levene and
fellow judges: Holly Bellingham, Chairman of Marketform and Graham
White, Deputy Chairman of Lloyd's and Argenta Syndicate
Management.
Throughout the competition the teams will be
required to devise inspiring and wallet-opening ideas to raise as
much money as they can for their allocated charity. They will also
face a few surprises along the way from the judges that may help
them seize an advantage over the other teams.
Kicking off the launch, Lord Levene gave the
teams their instructions for the first task - a dash around the
Square Mile to destinations linked to the three partner
charities. Their efforts were rewarded with a variety of
items to help kick start their fundraising efforts.
The team that raises the most money will be
crowned ‘Challenge Champions’ at the final event on 8 July. A
‘Challenge Creatives’ accolade will also be awarded to the team
that the judges feel has taken the most innovative approach to
their fundraising efforts.
The teams taking part in the month long
quest are Alsford Page & Gems, Argenta Syndicates,
Beazley, Canopius, Chaucer Syndicates, Hiscox, Liberty Syndicates,
Lloyd's Market Operations & North America, Lloyd's Market
Reserving & Capital, Marketform and Willis.
Speaking at the launch event, Lloyd’s Chairman
Lord Levene said; “I am pleased to see so many teams from the
Lloyd's market taking part in the Charity Challenge. The Challenge
will test their determination, creativity and organisation - and
all the other skills they bring to work each day. I and my fellow
judges are looking forward to seeing how they fare and how much
money they can raise for our partner charities.”
The money raised by the teams supporting Coram
will go towards helping to extend their work with children, young
people and their families in London including their pioneering
Concurrent Planning Adoption Programme.
The money raised for FARM-Africa will go
towards transforming the lives of rural farmers and their families
in East Africa. FARM-Africa works at the grassroots to help farmers
to find long term solutions to hunger and to improve their
livelihoods.
Finally, the money raised by the teams for
Samaritans will go towards their work of providing confidential
emotional support, 24 hours a day, for people who are experiencing
feelings of distress or despair.
The competition will run from 3 June until 8
July and information about the judges, the charities and profiles
of all the teams are available at
http://www.lloyds.com/About_Us/Corporate_responsibility/Charity/Lloyds_charity_challenge/
-ends-
Notes to editors
It is the aim of Samaritans
to make emotional health a mainstream issue. Samaritans'
vision is for a society where fewer people die by suicide because
people are able to share feelings of emotional distress openly
without fear of being judged. Samaritans believes that
offering people the opportunity to be listened to in confidence,
and accepted without prejudice, can alleviate despair and suicidal
feelings.
Samaritans is a registered charity, founded in
1953, which offers 24-hour confidential emotional support to anyone
in emotional distress. The service is offered by 16,800
trained volunteers and is entirely dependent on voluntary
support. Across the UK, you can call Samaritans on 08457 90
90 90 (1850 60 90 90 in the Republic of Ireland) email jo@samaritans.org, write to
Samaritans at Chris, PO Box 9090, Stirling, FK8 2SA, or if you are
deaf or hard of hearing use the single national minicom number
08457 90 91 92. Log on to www.samaritans.org for more information.
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