Despite significant disruption to traditions and routines in 2020, the IADC North Sea Chapter (NSC) maintained focus on one long-standing tradition – donating to local charities.
Based in Aberdeen, IADC’s NSC selected three different charities in the northeast region of Scotland as recipients of their annual contribution. Although there were many groups doing plenty of good work in North West Europe, the Chapter agreed to spilt the £15,000 donation between to Aberdeen Cyrenians, Mental Health Aberdeen, and Scotland Charity Air Ambulance.
Aberdeen Cyrenians support individuals in the North East community that are homeless, at-risk of becoming homeless, or affected by homelessness in anyway. Their aim is to meet the basic needs of those individuals by providing access to food, shelter, clothing, and toiletries. Additionally, they work on identifying the underlying issues to their clients’ homelessness, like mental health, learning disabilities, substance misuse, abuse, unemployment, or financial difficulties.
Mental Health Aberdeen (MHA) provides counselling and information services to adults and young people experiencing difficulties related to their mental health and well-being. For over 70 years, MHA has done this by providing effective and accessible services, promoting positive mental health to all, and educating their community on a subject that is often misunderstood, ignored, or stigmatised.
Scotland Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) is Scotland’s only charity air ambulance. Funded by the people of Scotland, primarily through donations, fundraising, events, and their life-saving lottery, SCAA can reach 90% of Scotland’s population within 30 minutes of receiving an emergency call. They currently operate 2 helicopters and 1 rapid-response vehicle—taking expert paramedic care to the scene of time-critical emergencies and then transporting patients to specialist hospitals.
All the charities were extremely grateful for the donations from IADC and couldn’t thank the North Sea Chapter enough, especially as the COVID-19 Pandemic increased the need for community support. The donations will continue to aid the charities and help those that are vulnerable and less fortunate in the local community.
