Aberdeen Asset Management supports Maggie’s Centre with donation

Aberdeen Asset Management has provided a Granite City cancer support centre with a four figure sum at a time when an increasing number of people whose lives are affected by cancer are turning to it for help and support.

Since its launch in 2014, Maggie’s Centre in Aberdeen has provided a warm and welcoming space for people with cancer and their families to drop in with around 40 visitors a day walking through its doors to make use of its support services.

Based near Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, it receives no NHS funding but provides professional staff to offer free, practical, emotional and social support to people need – practical advice about benefits and eating well; a place where qualified experts provide emotional support, somewhere to meet other people; a place to simply sit back and enjoy a cup of tea.

The Aberdeen centre is one of 19 centres at major NHS cancer hospitals in the UK.

From the newly diagnosed seeking answers about their treatment plan or lifestyle changes they have to make, to those in remission and struggling with the physical and emotional after effects of cancer, or the bereaved looking for social support and people who understand what they are going through, the centre is there for everyone affected by cancer, at any stage of their journey.

It offers a unique programme of information, practical and emotional support to people affected by cancer through services like psychological counselling, nutrition workshops, advice around benefits and finances, exercise classes, creative writing workshops and networking and support groups.

However, more and more people are using the centre’s facilities to help them cope with the challenges they face and last year the total number of visitors rose to 9,149, up by 16 per cent on the previous year.

This figure is forecast to increase again in 2017, demonstrating the continued and growing need for the services it offers.

The centre relies on fundraising and donations like the one given by Aberdeen Asset Management’s Charitable Foundation, to be able to provide a welcome refuge and supportive environment for people who are living with cancer.

Maggie’s Centre fundraising organiser Megan Davies, said: “The generous gift we have received from the Aberdeen Asset Management Charitable Foundation will go towards the running costs of the centre.

“This will make a meaningful, lasting impact upon the lives of people from across Aberdeen who visit their local Maggie’s Centre. This could be a visitor coming into Maggie’s for the first time and having a chat with a cancer support specialist, a visitor having an appointment with our benefits advisor, attending a workshop or popping in for a cup of tea. Every day we provide a wide range of support that directly benefits people with cancer and their friends and family.”

One visitor summed up the benefit of being able to freely call in to Maggie’s Centre, said: “The help and support I gained last week when I dropped into the centre on a very low day, for me, was so valuable. The staff made me feel welcome and normal and helped me to work through some feelings that had surfaced out of the blue.”

Dominic Kite, representing Aberdeen Asset Management Charities Committee in Aberdeen, said: “Maggie’s Centre is there for everyone affected by cancer, at any stage of their journey. People with cancer and their families and friends can engage with various aspects of its programme and choose from a variety of elements to meet their emotional and practical needs.”