Charity auction at HSBC UK Contact Centre Malta

HSBC UK Contact Centre (HBEU), home to Malta’s largest number of call centre employees, hosted its fifth annual charity auction as staff and their families and friends tried to outbid each other for a good cause. 

The evening auction raised more than €2,000 for Europa Donna, the European breast cancer coalition.

Originally starting out as an in-house effort to support social causes, the auction has continued to grow in size and scale over the last five years with this year’s attendees and auction items outnumbering previous years.

At least 30 businesses and establishments around Malta donated items, ranging from dine-out vouchers and getaway deals to artworks created by HBEU’s own staff. Up for grabs were close to 60 items as participants jostled to snap up the prizes at the start of each new bid. 

HBEU People Experience Manager Richard Powell said: “Considering we raised a meagre €500 in our first year of charity auction to over €2,000 this time, the continued enthusiasm of staff in chipping in to support worthy causes is laudable. The event also serves to raise awareness that living and surviving with cancer of any kind is indeed possible.”

Europa Donna Malta President Gertrude Abela, a breast cancer survivor for 15 years, said: “The good work of HBEU and the funds it has been making available to Europa Donna Malta are a solid pillar of support to our organisation. The money received will be used to sustain further education and research in the area of breast cancer.”

A participant, Kevin Krishnan, who has attended the event each year in a row and who was first introduced to the event by his wife as an employee of HBEU, said: “As someone who has known cancer patients and survivors around myself, my main aim to attend HBEU’s annual charity auction is to be part of the support network available to cancer patients. Each year, I try to participate and each year I try to bring a new set of friends to join in.”

HBEU regularly organises various fund-raising and awareness activities to support the society it operates in, while its staff are encouraged to volunteer in the community. 

Established in 2006 with a target of 250 employees, the superior customer services delivered by the Contact Centre have resulted in more than 400 employees assisting UK account holding customers today.