How you can still shop and support

On Monday [23^rd March], the Government confirmed shops selling “non-essential goods” will be closed immediately. This includes the many charity shops that operate on the high street and within communities.

Whilst we understand and support the Government’s decision to close stores, it is another devastating blow to our charity.

Our retail stores account for a significant proportion of our income. Thanks to them and our customers – both shoppers and those who donate items – we can support people with lung cancer. We can run our Ask the Nurse service. We can produce booklets and guides to help people manage symptoms, understand their treatment options and live with lung cancer.

In these uncertain times, information, support and advice is even more crucial.

Suddenly our work is more important than ever. We find ourselves needing to support more people but with many of our income streams, such as our retail shops, have been cut off.

“Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation supported me and my wife after I was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. They were there when I had surgery. They were there when I struggled through chemo.

So, I’m appeal to you now on behalf of my Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation family. I have had to postpone my charity auction night, just as many other fundraising events have been cancelled. This is having a huge financial impact on the charity. Yet they continue to provide support and advice to those of us living with lung cancer. So please, do what you can to support them so they can continue to help us.”

Nick, diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer

Shop and support

There are many ways you can support our charity during the coronavirus pandemic and, whilst you may not be able to visit our local stores, you can still donate as you shop by signing up for Amazon Smile.

Amazon donates 0.5% of all transactions from supporters who have selected us as their Smile charity. 

How it works

Please be aware, we will only receive a donation from transactions made via the smile.amazon.co.uk website. If you buy something through the standard amazon site or the app, we will not receive any donation. Please make sure you always use smile.amazon.co.uk when shopping.

There is a Free Google Chrome extension that makes it even easier to shop with Amazon Smile:

1. 1. Visit: https://couponfollow.com/smilematic

2. Click “Add to Chrome” (the extension also works on Safari and Firefox browsers)

3. Select Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation

4. Start shopping as you would normally!

Adding this to your web browser means that every time you visit Amazon, your browser will automatically take you to Amazon Smile. Every time you shop with Amazon Smile, you will be supporting people living with lung cancer and funding vital research into the disease.

Please note, this only works when you are on a computer or laptop. It will not work if you are on a phone or tablet.

We hope it will soon be safe to lift the restrictions on high street shops very soon and our incredible retail staff and volunteers can return to what they do best.

But until then, we must find other ways to continue to bring money into the charity and support those most vulnerable to the coronavirus. Amazon Smile is a great way to start.