Four years of supporting Team Margot
February marks four years since Parkdean Resorts adopted Team Margot as one of its key charity partners.
Team Margot was founded by the parents of a young girl, Margot, who had Leukaemia which caused her to require multiple blood transfusions and a stem cell transplant. Due to her mixed family heritage, it was more challenging to find her a perfect tissue-type match because of the lack of diversity on the stem cell and bone marrow registers. Team Margot's mission is to increase donations of blood, organs, stem cells and bone marrow by educating, inspiring and motivating people to register as donors and to provide a range of support to families caring for child cancer patients.
Parkdean Resorts supports the charity by raising awareness, funds, and donates free holidays to families with sick children at an accessible unit at Southview Holiday Park in Lincolnshire, to allow families a well needed break and opportunity to create happy memories.
To date, Parkdean Resorts has fundraised a staggering £107,115 for the charity. This funding has made a real difference to families caring for sick children, including funding one-off emergency grants of £1,000 to 37 families. After Margot's parents experienced the struggles associated with having a sick child, they wanted to offer financial help to other parents in the same situation.
A family who benefitted from an emergency grant said: “We'd like to thank you ever so much from the bottom of our hearts. We are truly grateful for your support with the grant. It's going to be of immense help. You're doing fantastic work helping families in difficult times. Thank you for understanding our situation and for providing support to us and others like us.”
The funds raised have also enabled Team Margot to create an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Ethnicity Transplantation and Transfusion which advocates for equity of access to transplant and transfusion treatments. The APPG, created in December 2022, aims to influence and change policy, which is one of the most positive and impactful things any charity can do.
Team Margot’s role is secretariat for the APPG, and in 2023 they ran an inquiry that resulted in the “Where are our nation’s donors?” report being launched in Parliament during the start of December.
The goal is for more people to become donors, in particular people from mixed heritage and ethnic minorities, and for donors to be more visible and celebrated in UK society. The charity will continue working towards improving the nation’s healthcare systems and services to be more attuned to the needs of the whole UK population. Parkdean Resorts is proud to continue raising funds and awareness for Team Margot to drive this cause.
