Armed Forces charity boosted by donation by Amazon Wakefield

The donation was made to The Royal British Legion, the UK’s leading Armed Forces Charity, that offers financial, social, and emotional care for all serving and retired members of the Armed Forces community, and their families.

Dan Bailey from Amazon in Wakefield, and a former Royal Marine, nominated the charity for the donation.

He said: “Many members of the Armed Forces community in Wakefield benefit from the charity’s support and it’s great that Amazon has made this donation.”

David Benfell, General Manager at Amazon in Wakefield, said: “The Royal British Legion makes a big difference to the Armed Forces community, and we’re pleased to support the charity with this donation.”

Neal Wilkes, Community Fundraiser for Wakefield for The Royal British Legion, said: “We want to say thank you to David, Dan and the whole team at Amazon in Wakefield for this donation.

"The Royal British Legion is at the heart of a national network supporting the Armed Forces community, and this donation will allow us to continue helping serving and ex-serving personnel and their families in Wakefield and beyond.”

The Royal British Legion received the donation as part of Amazon’s programme to support communities in and around its operating locations throughout the UK.

Almost a decade ago, Amazon signed The Armed Forces Covenant. The Covenant has a focus on helping the Armed Forces community to access the same support from Government and commercial services as the public.

In 2022, Amazon increased its support of the military community by growing its partnership with the Royal British Legion.

The partnership, which began four years ago, sees Amazon encourage customers to support the Royal British Legion through an official charity store, featuring products that raise money for the Legion. All proceeds from the sale of goods go directly to the charity.

In addition to several support programmes for the Royal British Legion and other services charities, Amazon offers an employment programme for members of the services community called the Amazon Military Programme.

The programme offers members of the military community the opportunity to pursue a wide range of exciting new career paths at Amazon.

Community donations and employee volunteering are just two of the ways Amazon supports the communities in and around its operating locations across the UK. Amazon provides students, teachers and parents with free computer science and STEM education programmes through Amazon Future Engineer and has teamed up with charity partner Magic Breakfast to deliver more than 70 million healthy breakfasts to children at risk of hunger in disadvantaged areas of the country.

Earlier this year, Amazon partnered with Comic Relief to become the official home of the Red Nose. Amazon employees across the UK hosted fundraising activities and together with their customers and partners, raised £2.7 million to support those going through the toughest time of their lives.