Home communities

Around the world, companies in Thomas Cook Group contribute to our home communities – where our offices, airlines and retail networks are based. We have chosen to focus our contributions to our home communities on making dreams come true for sick and disadvantaged children. Many of our companies also contribute to wider causes as well.

Making dreams come true for children

At the centre of our support for sick and disadvantaged children is the Thomas Cook Children's Charity. Launched in 2009, the charity raises funds to help children worldwide – see Spotlight: Thomas Cook Children's Charity.

We decided to launch the charity, having seen the difference made by our focused fundraising for the Children's Critical Care Centre at King's College Hospital in London. The Centre treats many of the UK's sickest children, with major injuries or illnesses such as cystic fibrosis. It enables specialist intensive care staff and equipment to be based in one place in the hospital. As it was built using £2.3 million raised by Thomas Cook UK customers and employees, we were incredibly proud to see the Centre open its doors in 2008. Elsewhere, Thomas Cook employees also support children's hospitals. For example, in North America, the Thomas Cook volleyball team raised over $10,000 (over £6,000) for the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children's charitable foundation.

One of the most exciting ways in which we can support children is by giving them flights that they would not otherwise be able to experience. Many of our businesses donate flights, fuel costs and employee time to take children on flights, often to see Santa at Christmas. The pilots manoeuvre the plane to simulate Santa landing his sleigh on the roof. Santa then comes walking through the seats and hands out a present to every child.

Thomas Cook UK provides educational support for many school and university students. As well as giving students information on our business to help them with their studies whenever requested, in 2010 we delivered specific assistance to a school near our office in Bradford. Thomas Cook employees went into the school to talk to students on travel and tourism or geography courses about our airline and sustainable tourism.

We also support Leeds Metropolitan University's Responsible Holiday Challenge. 16- to 18-year-old school and college students are invited to design a responsible package holiday for a real client. They must consider the sustainability impacts of travel and holiday activities. In addition to financial support, we make a presentation to the students and our Group Head of Sustainability sits on the judging panel.

Supporting wider causes

Many of our companies choose to support other good causes through the donation of money, time, gifts in kind or subsidised holidays, flights or cargo services. Thomas Cook India has established a trust that, in 2010, donated to organisations including a school for the blind, a women's welfare society and the Society for the Eradication of Leprosy. Condor has also established a programme for charitable donations, which in 2010 benefitted over 30 organisations, with the main focus of its support being Haiti after its devastating earthquake. Thomas Cook UK also provided substantial help to the people of Haiti. This included transporting over 30 tonnes of operating tables, anaesthetic kits and other equipment for medical teams.

As a provider of sailing holidays, Neilson Active Holidays directs most of its fundraising and corporate giving to Sail 4 Cancer. Sail 4 Cancer offers water-based respite opportunities to individuals and families affected by cancer, as well as funding cancer treatment and research. In 2010, Neilson contributed £18,815 worth of holidays for 59 people. Neilson employees at Club Phokaia in Turkey found a novel way to raise funds for Sail 4 Cancer in 2010: they released a charity single and DVD titled 'Relax as hard as you like'.

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