There’s one week to go until the vote opens to decide the north and north-east charities which will be supported by The P&J 275 Community Fund.
The P&J 275 Community Fund aims to support the charities transforming our communities, across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, and the Highlands and Islands.
Hundreds of charities were nominated by readers and from Wednesday November 1, the public will be able to vote for the charities they believe to be most-deserving.
The four charities with the most votes across each of the categories will be announced as P&J Charity Partners 2024, and will receive a minimum of £10,000 next year.
The P&J’s fifth Charity Partner is Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA), which has been supported by The Press and Journal since 2019.
Ross Martin of SCAA said the charity is delighted The Press and Journal is continuing to offer its support as part of the 275 Community Fund, he said: “As Scotland’s only charity funded air ambulance service, SCAA relies entirely on the generosity of the people and businesses of Scotland.
“We are delighted to have been chosen as one of the charities to benefit from the P&J 275 Community Fund and are grateful to everyone involved in the decision making process.
“The funds raised for SCAA will help to fund vital life-saving missions carried out across Scotland by our highly skilled paramedics and pilots.
“Our crews respond to time-critical medical emergencies and accidents all over the country, taking pre-hospital care to a patient at the scene before transferring them to the most appropriate hospital for their needs.
“Our service is a vital part of the emergency response network in Scotland but particularly of benefit to people in rural and remote communities – in 2022 our crews responded to almost 1,000 call outs with 59% of them to patients in the Grampian and Highland regions.”
Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance responds, on average, to two time-critical emergency call outs every single day.
As a national charity, SCAA receives no statutory government funding, and therefore rely 100% on donations from the public to fuel life-saving flights.
As part of The P&J’s 275 anniversary celebrations, the Community Fund was launched earlier this year.
Readers were asked to nominate the charities they felt should be supported by the fund.
More than 100 charities have been categorised by region and size into four categories: Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire large charities, Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire small to medium, Highlands, Islands and Moray large and Highlands, Islands and Moray small to medium.
Readers will be able to vote for one charity in each category. The polls will close on Wednesday November 15.
The vote will be held online, where readers will be able to learn more about all of the nominated charities. A special pull-out magazine will also be included as a pull-out in The Press and Journal newspaper.
Throughout 2024, The P&J will run a number of initiatives to fundraise for the 275 Community Fund.
The P&J 275 Charity Gala – in association with Cala Homes – will be the first event held next year on February 2 at P&J Live.
The Charity Gala will offer an evening of fine dining and entertainment, as well as a charity auction.
