29 Mar 2023
The London Freemasons – long-term supporters of London’s Air Ambulance Charity – have pledged to make the largest single donation of the charity’s helicopter fundraising appeal, Up Against Time.
With our existing helicopter fleet becoming increasingly challenging to maintain, we are seeking to raise £15 million to purchase and deploy two new Airbus H-135s. The Freemasons’ pledge helps to cover a fifth of those costs.
London’s Air Ambulance is a service that receives 96% from public support and the Up Against Time appeal marks the charity’s largest ever fundraising campaign.
The Freemasons have had a long-standing relationship with the charity and their support over the years has enabled the service to be there for approximately 11,000 Londoners since 2016.
Sir Michael Snyder, Leader, London Freemasons, said:
“London’s Air Ambulance Charity is absolutely vital, bringing emergency medical experts to the roadside in rapid time and saving lives every day across London. The Freemasons have supported London’s Air Ambulance over the last eight years because it is an essential part of keeping London safe and we hope our pledge today will help this continue for many years to come.”
“London’s Air Ambulance Charity is one of those organisations where volunteers, experts and paid staff come together to make a genuinely life-changing difference to our city and I am proud to continue to support such a cause.”
Along with their latest pledge, their past support helped the charity purchase the second of its two helicopters and update its fleet of rapid response cars.
Jonathan Jenkins, CEO, London’s Air Ambulance Charity, said: “As a charity, we rely almost entirely on donations, so when we launched the fundraising campaign for our two new helicopters we were under no illusion as to the scale of the challenge.
“We’ve been blown away by the levels of support from communities across London but we knew that a large-scale cornerstone donation would be vital to help reach our £15 million target.
“The London Freemasons have been a hugely supportive and valued partner over the years, most notably helping us during our previous helicopter fundraising campaign in 2016, and for them to accelerate our fundraising with such a large cornerstone amount is nothing short of transformational.
“On behalf of the whole charity, I would like to pass on my gratitude and appreciation to everyone involved in making this happen.”