Irwin Mitchell Raises £19,000 For Charity Of The Year

West Midlands charity Molly Olly’s Wishes is set to benefit from a record £19,000 donation from Irwin Mitchell’s Birmingham office, after staff at the firm spent all of last year raising funds for the organisation.

Molly Olly’s Wishes was nominated by staff at the office to be their Charity of the Year for 2016 as part of a nationwide initiative established by the Irwin Mitchell Charities Foundation. 

Established in 1997, IMCF is an independent registered charity set up by the firm which has donated more than £1.5 million to third sector organisations. A record £163,000 was raised in total across the law firm’s offices in 2016, with the £19,000 for Molly Olly’s Wishes also being a record for the Birmingham office.

Molly Olly’s Wishes was founded in 2011 and helps children with terminal or life-threatening illnesses and their families by providing them with therapeutic toys and granting wishes for exciting days out or specialist equipment to help them with their condition.

Stuart Henderson, Regional Managing Partner at Irwin Mitchell’s Birmingham office, said: “We are delighted to be able to provide this record donation to a truly fantastic cause in our local community.

“Our Charity of the Year initiative is something that all of our employees are very passionate about, with everyone pitching in to raise funds in a variety of ways across 2016 to ensure we can provide quality support to this charity.”

“Last year was a record-breaking one in terms of our fundraising work and we are very proud to be able to give back to the local communities where we work in this manner.”

Among the initiatives that Molly Olly’s Wishes will fund using Irwin Mitchell’s donation is Olly the Brave, a therapeutic toy lion and book developed by the charity to explain the importance of emotional wellbeing to children at the start of treatment. The charity donates these to hospitals and families across the UK.

In addition, the funds will support the charity’s Wishes scheme, which gives children access to specialist equipment, alternative therapies to complement their treatment or special days out. Examples of the latter include a trip around London to follow the footsteps of Paddington Bear and a trip to see Les Miserables.

Rachel Ollerenshaw at Molly Olly’s Wishes, said: “We are hugely grateful to everyone at Irwin Mitchell’s Birmingham office for this fantastic donation which will allow us to make a huge difference to a lot of young people’s lives.

“Working with the firm across 2016 has been an absolute pleasure and we truly appreciate the hard work and effort which has gone into raising these vital funds.”