Jumping For Joy! Care Home Colleagues Donate Over £2,000 to Macmillan

Kirsty and Gemma from Care UK’s Murrayside care home in Edinburgh recently jumped into action, raising £1,485 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Kirsty Watson, the home’s deputy manager, faced her fears alongside lifestyle lead Gemma McInnes, as the pair bravely took part in the Highland Fling Bungee Jump from the Garry Bridge in Killiecrankie.

Kirsty said: “We’ve both lost family members in the last few years so Macmillan is an important charity for the both of us. Initially, I set the target to raise £1,000 thinking it was a bit optimistic, but we’ve had an incredible amount of support from residents’ relatives. We couldn’t have achieved this without them.”

With help from Care UK’s matched funding scheme, an additional £1,000 was donated to Macmillan Cancer Support, bringing the grand total of the pair’s fundraising efforts to £2,485.

But Kirsty and Gemma aren’t stopping there. “It’s fair to say I was more apprehensive at first compared to Kirsty because she was dead cool and relaxed,” Gemma says, “ but now I’m trying to convince her to do a skydive next year!”

Kirsty said: “Since we’ve raised money for Macmillan, we’d like to support Alzheimer’s Society next, whether it be skydiving or abseiling, which I’d definitely be interested in.”

So far this year, Care UK has matched £28,912 of colleagues’ donations, with money going to 30 different charities.