Seafarers UK launches 2 Million Reasons campaign
Seafarers UK has recently launched 2 Million Reasons, a two-year fundraising and awareness raising campaign.
The campaign aims to highlight the shortfall in meeting the needs of seafarers, as highlighted in the 2007 report, Supporting seafarers and their families: challenges for the future and to raise the funds to fill this gap. Seafarers UK receives requests for grants to the value of £5 million, yet it only has the funds to distribute £3million; an extra £2million would enable us to help thousands more seafarers and their families who desperately need our help.
As the Supporting Seafarers report highlights, the seafaring community is a valuable yet overlooked group; from elderly, ex-seamen, to widowed wives of seafarers, to young children with complex emotional needs, their needs are varied and the support they receive is often woefully inadequate. The 2 Million Reasons campaign will highlight to the maritime community as well as the wider public, why seafarers should be treated as equal citizens who deserve our support rather than as a separate group, as they are often viewed.
New campaign logo
The campaign logo and strapline will be supported by a number of different ‘reasons’, illustrating key facts which were brought to light in the report. For example, few people are aware of the fact that fishing is the most dangerous peacetime occupation in the UK, or that 30% of seafarers’ children have complex emotional needs, compared to 4% of children in the UK.
The 2 Million Reasons campaign will underpin all Seafarers UK’s fundraising activities for the next two years, so watch out for the logo on various merchandise and at our events over the coming months!