Caerphilly-based plumbing and heating company Heatforce has raised £30,000 for Guide Dogs Cymru.
The company has presented the charity with its most recent cheque of £5,200 – hitting its own £30,000 target – and has chosen the name Lily for its newest puppy, which will be based in South Wales for the duration of her training.
Heatforce has fundraised through a number of events including its annual charity golf day which took place at Llanishen Golf Club. The day included a golf tournament between local amateur teams, raffles and auctions with all prizes donated by local business.
Paul Maddocks, managing director of Heatforce, said: “Guide Dogs has always been close to our hearts as many of my family members are volunteers and have been for a number of years. We’ve seen at first-hand how these incredible dogs can truly transform a blind person’s life and give them back their independence.
“It’s important that as a local company, we are able to support the communities in which we operate and seeing how far our money can go is so rewarding. We hope that Lily will make someone very happy and are looking forward to following up with her in a year’s time, which is when she will hopefully pass her guide dog puppy training.”
Deborah Rees, from Guide Dogs Cymru, said: “We’re so grateful to have received so much support from Heatforce over the past six years and have been overwhelmed with the amount of money we have received from the company. Not all puppies go on to become guide dogs but Heatforce has been lucky with two of its puppies, Wilson and Poppy, having qualified and a third, Lucas, progressing well.
“We’re looking forward to continuing our partnership with Heatforce over the next few years and hope that more local businesses will follow suit and support what is really a worthwhile and important charity for blind people.”