Railway Children’s Rail Aid named Railway Industry Association’s charity of the year

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The Railway Industry Association (RIA) has announced it has chosen Railway Children’s Rail Aid 2021 as its charity of the year. Rail Aid was launched last year in direct response to the unprecedented challenges faced by young people and the Railway Children charity as a result of Covid-19. The benefits Railway Children will experience as RIA’s chosen charity of the year are innumerable and will ensure greater and broader support within the rail industry.

Railway Children is grateful to RIA for its ongoing support over the years and honoured to have been selected as its chosen charity of the year for a second time, having been previously chosen back in 2019. In previous years, members of the RIA team have raised money for Railway Children through participation in various events such as the half marathon and the sleepout at Birmingham New Street. It has also raised money during its varied calendar of conferences and events. Money raised from these efforts was critical in providing care and assistance to young people.

Railway Children has always been well supported by the rail industry, but Covid-19 has continued to have a devastating impact on efforts to raise critical funds to support the lives of children around the world. In 2020, Rail Aid aimed to tackle this, managing to raise over £537,000 – money which couldn’t have been raised without UK Rail. Moreover, over 120 businesses took part, ranging from Tier 1’s to SMEs, and around 1,200 individuals gave their support. However, we need industry support again as Rail Aid is back for 2021, bigger and better than before.

Rob Capener, Railway Children’s Director of Fundraising & Marketing said:

“We are honoured and grateful to have been selected as RIA’s chosen charity of the year for a second time and their support will make a considerable difference to our fundraising efforts. We look forward to working with them this year and hope to engage even more within the industry to participate and support us, with a great range of challenges and activities to get involved with over the coming months.”

Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said:

“We’re delighted to confirm Railway Children’s Rail Aid 2021 as RIA’s chosen charity for the year. Over 2021, RIA will support Rail Aid by providing fundraising opportunities at RIA events, helping raise awareness of the cause and generally doing all we can to boost their valuable work.

“And so, it is great to back Rail Aid 2021, a fantastic initiative which provides lifelines to children from around the world at such a critical time during this global pandemic. We look forward to working with Railway Children to promote this worthy cause.”

To find out more about Rail Aid’s work, how you can sign up for upcoming events or become a sponsor, check out: https://railaid.co.uk.

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