Southern Cross Healthcare sponsors Everton in the Community with a cheque for £80,000

At the recent Everton versus Birmingham match on the 3 November 2007, Ann Marie Heaps, Managing Director, Sue Ashcroft, Operations Manager and service user Brian Alsop of Roxburgh House Care Centre, Bootle, Liverpool presented a cheque for £80,000 to Everton In the Community.

The payment reflects the extension of the existing sponsorship arrangement for a further 3 years. The money will partly fund an Everton in the Community coach (Steve Johnson, the England Disability Captain) who runs coaching sessions in schools in Liverpool for disadvantaged children.

In addition, the funding supports initiatives designed to encourage girls to play football and sports generally.

Southern Cross firmly believes in encouraging the development of links with the local community and in particular younger people for the benefit of the service users in our care centres. As part of the sponsorship arrangement, Everton in the Community organises a "Table Top Football Tournament". This tournament takes place in each of our care centres involving the service users and their relatives and is supported by local schools with the final taking place at Goodison Park.

Currently under development is a programme with local schoolchildren where our service users will teach them basic skills - for example skills such as how to bake, knit and crochet.

Ann Marie Heaps, Managing Director, said, "We are delighted to be continuing the sponsorship arrangement with Everton in the Community. We firmly believe that this programme makes a significant contribution to the local community, schools and our service users. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the team in the future."