KPMG has decided upon its chosen ‘Charity of the Year’ for 2012. Following a ballot of all staff members to democratically decide upon the charity to be supported, it has been confirmed that the accountancy firm will be supporting Manx Cancer Help. KPMG staff will hold a number of events over the space of the twelve months to support the charity, including sponsored walks (most notably the Parish walk), dress down days, the Santa dash, staff social nights and many others. KPMG will also be encouraging its staff members to participate in events which have been organised by the chosen charity and to donate their time to the cause. Manx Cancer Help is an Isle of Man Charity which helps cancer patients and their families, carers and friends by providing expert counselling to help them cope with the difficult issues which can be triggered by a cancer diagnosis. They offer free and confidential counselling sessions both in person and over the phone to help Manx people through such challenging times. The charity has been in existence for over 26 years, but there has been a vast increase in the number of people relying on them over the last three years. The first event in their charity calendar will be the Manx Cancer Help Christmas Fair, which takes place on Sunday 13 November at the Lisa Lowe Centre, 97 Woodbourne Road between 1 and 5pm. The stalls at the Fair will sell a wide variety of products – including handmade scarves, chocolate, books, glassware, cupcakes, Christmas crackers and children’s clothing – as well as nail painting, glitter tattoos, a song performance and a raffle. On top of this, the Manx Cancer Help Christmas cards, which have been designed by local artist Nancy Corkish, will be on sale. Each purchase will help to support Manx Cancer Help. To kick-start their involvement, KPMG are collecting donations from staff members to contribute towards the Manx Cancer Help stall. Sinead O Connor, Senior Manager at KPMG, commented: “The staff chose this charity as it is a cause which is very close to the hearts of many of us here at KPMG. Cancer really does touch everybody and Manx Cancer Help do some fantastic work in trying to help those suffering from the disease as well as those close to them. We will do our best to support the charity however possible and hopefully we will be able to contribute to their success and be in a position to make a significant donation by the end of the year.” Ally Martin, Fundraising Events Co-Ordinator at Manx Cancer Help, is thrilled that the firm has chosen to support the charity: “Manx Cancer Help is entirely dependent on donations to continue our work so KPMG’s backing will give us a real boost. At the moment we are expanding the services that we offer to include psycho-oncology, which makes the need for funding even more crucial. With one in three people being diagnosed with cancer during their lives our services are heavily in demand, and we have experienced a particular increase over the last three years, so the money which KPMG raises will be helping us immensely”. -ENDS-