Chivas Brothers' Plymouth staff donate £5k to charity

Chivas Brothers, the Scotch whisky and premium gin business of Pernod Ricard, is today awarding £5,000 to The Jake McCarthy Foundation after its employees in Plymouth voted in their droves to support the charity for the second consecutive year.

Each year, Chivas Brothers’ staff select their favourite causes to support as part of the company’s commitment to build strong relations with the local communities where it operates. The Jake McCarthy Foundation was set up in memory of the brother of a Chivas Brothers employee, and aims to raise awareness of the symptoms of brain tumours and ensure early diagnosis. Last year’s £5,000 contributed to The Wall of Hope, a symbol of the ongoing aim to eradicate brain cancer, with each brick representing one day of research for glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive type of malignant brain tumour.

Jake’s mother, Barbara McCarthy, said on behalf of the Foundation: “I’m overwhelmed and delighted to continue the partnership for another year and hope together we can make a difference in raising awareness of these devastating brain tumours, the biggest killer of under 40s.

“Our partnership with Chivas Brothers over the past year has enabled us to contribute to a research project into Glioblastomas, the most common malignant primary brain tumour, at Queen Mary University of London as well as raising the profile of The Jake McCarthy Foundation by taking brain tumour awareness to a much wider audience. For that we are sincerely grateful.”

Jennie Norrish, Head of Communications at Chivas Brothers, said: “It is a great pleasure to announce that our employees have chosen to support The Jake McCarthy Foundation again this year. We are dedicated to being a part of the communities where our employees live and work, and therefore to support this incredibly worthy cause that is so close to the hearts of our Plymouth workforce. The Charity of the Year initiative is a great opportunity for Chivas Brothers to give back to our local communities.”

Demonstrating their further support for The Jake McCarthy Foundation, Chivas Brothers employees recently helped with a petition that subsequently led to funding for brain tumour research being debated in parliament on Monday 18th April – a major step forward for brain tumour awareness.

Josh McCarthy (pictured), Senior Brand Manager for Chivas Brothers, is Jake’s brother. He said: “I’m thrilled that The Jake McCarthy Foundation has been chosen as 2016 Charity of the Year. Chivas Brothers has such a warm, welcoming community of people and their compassion and support for our cause just showcases the kind-hearted nature of the people I’m lucky enough to work with each day.

“It is obviously a cause extremely close to my heart and with brain tumours still responsible for more cancer deaths in under 40s than any other illness, the support amongst such a big business like this helps our cause enormously. This partnership helps us to fund further research into the disease as well as get support from a wide community of people.”

The donation to The Jake McCarthy Foundation forms part of a £20,000 contribution to four charities across the UK, each representing a region in which Chivas Brothers operates and includes; The Jake McCarthy Foundation, London and Plymouth region; Alzheimer Scotland, Northern Scotland region; Macmillan Cancer Support West of Scotland, Paisley, Glasgow and Ayrshire; and the Beatson Cancer Charity, Dunbartonshire.

The annual charity vote is just one of a number of initiatives that Chivas Brothers’ employees can take part in throughout the year, including a ‘doubling-up scheme’ where the company matches funds raised for good causes by workers in their spare time.