Are you an Amazon.com user? Would you like to see more financial support for industry technical profesionals who are seriously ill or suffering from an accident?
Amazon will now donate 0.5% of the amount of any purchase to a charity of your choice – while costing you no extra.
Although it’s not a huge percentage, if it’s done by many, it could be really significant.
And it’s super simple to do.
Go to:
You will then be asked to pick a charity from a drop-down menu. Type in ‘Backup’, all one word (and not to be confused with The Back-Up Trust).
Once you have pressed select, this will be set as your default charity. You will have to visit smile.amazon.co.uk, rather than the usual amazon.co.uk when making a purchase, in order for the charity to benefit.
Read Mark Pritchard’s testimony on the importance of these grants:
In October 2016 I was diagnosed with high grade non-Hodgkins lymphoma of the central nervous system and brain which came as a real shock to me and my family. I had gone to the hospital to investigate a back pain whilst working on tour with Level 42.
Upon diagnosis, I had to stop working on the tour, cancel all future work and submit to rounds of chemotherapy followed by the usual tests and checkups. I have just finished my fourth round of chemotherapy but it looks as if more treatment will be necessary.
At the start of all this, apart from the daunting prospect of treatment, I and my wife and two children faced a real financial battle with no income for at least six months. What few savings we had would rapidly diminish and a tax bill was looming.
I had heard of Backup through a friend and got in touch. The Trustees of the Backup charity stepped forward and worked with Light Relief charity who both awarded us an incredibly generous grant which gave us a lifeline and we feel very humbled and lucky to have been helped in this way.
We are amazed at the generosity of our industry in times of trouble and anything I can do to help the charity to raise funds and to tell everyone in our industry how important it is that we all support Backup and help others in need.
Sadly, despite stem cell surgery and further chemotherapy, Mark died in January 2018 leaving behind his wife and two young children.
Visit their site below to read more testimonials from recipients of their grants: