A life-saving charity working to bring an air ambulance to Aberdeen is in the running to be named Scotland’s best cause.
Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance has been shortlisted for a prestigious award from the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.
The charity-funded emergency air ambulance service has been scrambled more than 2,070 times since launching in 2013.
This year alone, the dedicated crew – based at Perth Airport – has responded to 325 emergencies all over the country.
In only six years, Scotland’s only charity air ambulance has already become a key part of the country’s emergency network.
And now SCAA is vying to be named SCVO’s charity of the year.
Five other causes have also been shortlisted: Drake Music Scotland, Maggie’s, Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Scottish Cot Death Trust and Young Enterprise Scotland.
The winner will be announced at a special ceremony in Edinburgh next month.
SCAA chief executive David Craig is delighted to be in the running.
He said: “These awards showcase the very best practise in Scotland’s third sector and to be shortlisted as one of the outstanding charities in the country is hugely exciting.
“To be shortlisted alongside some extremely impressive organisations is both humbling and rewarding and we greatly appreciate the judges’ recognition of the vital work that SCAA does for everyone in Scotland and the truly amazing team involved in terms of our crew, charity staff, volunteers, fundraisers and supporters.”
The charity has raised around £2.5million of the £6m needed to cover the first three years of operations of a second helicopter in the north-east.
The new helimed will be sent to the scenes of accidents and emergencies in the north, allowing crews to save “twice as many lives,” the charity says.
The charity wants to reach its hefty fundraising target by the end of this year.
The public can vote for charity of the year in a People’s Choice poll on the SCVO website.