A Highland charity has secured more than £15,000 to help them stay afloat and expand their resources.
Highland and Islands Blood Bikes (HAIBB), an independent local charity, was established in March last year to courier vital medical supplies and samples free of charge for the NHS.
Since its formation, the charity has travelled an amazing 124,000 miles, mainly working within the NHS Highland area at 54 different locations, as well as travelling to Elgin, Aberdeen and the central belt.
It has run 750 jobs for NHS Highland, transporting COVID-19 samples, reagents, blood, samples, spinal fluid samples and other items of small equipment.
The charity, which has bikes in Fort William, Wick and Oban and Inverness, has now received thousands of pounds in funding in support of their growing initiative.
HAIBB received £10,000 from the Brownlie Trust and a £5,000 donation from the Hugh Fraser Foundation as well as one of £300 from the Asda Foundation which forms a continued level of support received from the Asda store in Inverness.
Officials behind the charity confirmed the funding will help them move forward amidst the pandemic as they look for adequate premises to store their fleet and equipment.
Ross Sharp, president of HAIBB, thanked the organisations for their support.
He said: “This is great news for us, just at a time when we really need it.
“I’d like to thank the Brownlie Trust and the Hugh Fraser Foundation for such fantastic donations and Helen Robertson and her team at Asda in Inverness for their work with the Asda Foundation, who have always been there supporting our charity.
“We are a new Charity but have expanded at such a rate since our operational beginning in March last year, the Covid-19 pandemic has of course been a major influencer in our growth, in us doing our bit to help the NHS.”
