Birmingham based cancer charity, Cure Leukaemia, has made the move from the Jewellery Quarter to set up its offices in the city centre. Marking a successful 14 years raising awareness and vital funds for blood cancer patients in the region, the charity is now located in Colmore Gate, further boosting its ties with the city’s business community.
The move, which sees Cure Leukaemia’s five-strong-team now based at Colmore Gate, Colmore Row, brings the charity closer to the business community as it marks the half way point of its £1 million Appeal to expand the globally-significant Centre for Clinical Haematology, based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
Launched at the start of this year, Cure Leukaemia announced its commitment to raise the additional £1 million required to fully-fund the £3.2 million centre expansion project.
Cure Leukaemia Chief Executive, James McLaughlin, commented: “Moving to the heart of the Colmore Business District is a key strategic move for the charity. We already work closely with leading organisations such as Brewin Dolphin and KPMG, and as a team of just five employees we are keen to extend our links further with leading businesses in the city, and across the West Midlands as a whole.”
The existing Centre for Clinical Haematology is widely acknowledged as being an international centre of excellence for the development of new drug and transplant treatments for patients with blood cancers. The expansion will see the centre double its capacity and will enable twice the number of patients to be treated each year.
The office move also comes as McLaughlin celebrates five years as the charity’s Chief Executive, having previously held the role as Commercial Director at Edgbaston Stadium.
“On joining Cure Leukaemia I was keen for us to be more bold and innovative in our approach to fundraising and we have certainly done that with events like Glynn Purnell’s Friday Night Kitchen.
Such events have helped put Cure Leukaemia on the map, particularly within the business community and the overall support we have received in the last five years has seen the charity continue to grow to a level where I believe we will be able to raise the additional £1m required to fund the expansion of the Centre for Clinical Haematology,” he continued.
Last month, the charity announced that it had reached the £250,000 milestone in its fundraising efforts and with a further £750,000 to raise before the end of the year, the Cure Leukaemia team hopes that their new neighbours will get more involved; whether that be supporting such events as Blood Cancer Awareness month in September, and attending the flagship Glynn Purnell’s Friday Night Kitchen on Friday 6 October at The Vox.
To find out more about Cure Leukaemia and how the £1 million will change lives through the new Centre for Clinical Haematology, visit www.cureleukaemia.co.uk.