firmus energy has donated £5,000 to support the #searchforscrubs volunteers, which grew from 50 stitchers to 2,500 in the space of three days. firmus energy employee Angeline has already distributed 5,000m of fabric to the army of volunteers and will be distributing a further 10,000m before the end of the week using firmus energy vehicles which have been included in the support package from the company.

NI Scrubs, a network of stitchers, has been coordinated in response to the need for personal protective equipment. Angeline started an online page for donations and has been working with local suppliers to buy the materials at cost price.

The Magheralin-based Marketing Manager appeared on BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee and is a regular TV sewing presenter on RTE ‘Today Show with Maura and Daithí. The full-time working mum has called upon her firmus energy colleagues to distribute materials to a network of keen home-stitchers across Northern Ireland which will see thousands of scrubs made to help protect healthcare workers.

Speaking about her efforts in coordinating the group Angeline said, “I’m thrilled to receive firmus energy’s whopping £5,000 donation which has doubled my fundraising total! It’s so important that the community responds to the needs of the healthcare workers who put themselves at great risk to help the patients suffering from Covid-19. With so many skilled craftspeople eager to throw a stitch, it was just a matter of getting materials to them.

“The kindness and generosity I’ve received from my friends, family and industry colleagues has been overwhelming, and the additional contribution from firmus energy is going to assist our stitching storm! Just over a week ago I began stitching scrubs on my own, but the requests from NHS workers were flowing in and I realised I need to call in reinforcements. Now I am sending fabric and materials to every county up and down the country – the support is incredible!

“I am a passionate dressmaker and well known in our close knit sewing community in NI and beyond. With thousands of followers on my social channels it only felt right to get involved in this stitching marathon. We are all in this together and I’m just doing what I can to support our NHS heroes in these terrible circumstances.

Supporting Angeline to meet her fundraising target firmus energy Sales, Marketing and Customer Service Director Paul Stanfield said, “As the world faces this unprecedented challenge, firmus energy is focusing efforts towards supporting local NHS staff and communities in the fight against Covid19 by helping local seamstresses in their quest to sew, source and distribute material and make scrubs for front line staff.

“firmus energy is committed to helping the communities we serve at this time of great need and we’re proud to be supporting Angeline in this vital project. We’re also supporting her to distribute the materials across Northern Ireland.”

Additional donations can be made to Angeline’s fundraising efforts online via https://www.gofundme.com/f/search-for-scrubs-fabric-fund.

firmus energy has a strong track record of sponsorship and charity initiatives, raising £23,000 for Children’s Heartbeat Trust in 2019 and staff voted to make the Air Ambulance its charity partner for 2020.

Angeline will be on RTE’s Today with Maura and Daithi this Friday morning demonstrating the patterns she’s been using to make the scrubs.