MCKAYS LENDS A HAND

MCKAYS Solicitors is foregoing corporate Christmas gifts this year and instead making a $10,000 donation to Cancer Council Queensland.

The donation will go towards Ellis Lodge in Brisbane, which provides free accommodation for regional patients undergoing cancer treatment not requiring nursing care or assistance in Brisbane.

This is the second year McKays Solicitors has traded corporate gifting for charitable benevolence, with practice managing director Mark McGrath saying it was a token of how his practice benefits regional Queensland.

McKay Solicitors operates in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Mackay and the Surat Basin.

"We are a regional practice and through this donation we can show our support for Queensland regions and especially those Queenslanders fighting this terrible illness," says McGrath.

"If it can help regional cancer patients undergoing treatment in Brisbane, it achieves our wishes to be a gift with an ongoing value to those who benefit from it."

Cancer Council Queensland spokesperson Katie Clift thanked McKays Solicitors for its strong corporate social responsibility, commenting on the ground such a donation will cover.

"Each year around 24,000 Queenslanders are diagnosed with cancer, with many of those people living in regional and remote places and requiring treatment in Brisbane," says Clift.

"With the ongoing support of businesses like McKays Solicitors we can continue to offer a safe home-away-from-home to patients and their carers, as they undergo treatment.

"In 2013, our six lodges, including Ellis Lodge, accommodated more than 2070 regional cancer patients and their carers."

McKays Solicitors is a major supporter of Cancer Council Queensland, through other initiatives too including Relay for Life. It is a cause close to heart for the team as well, with McKays Solicitors principal Ian Heathwood being a cancer survivor.

Pictured (L-R): McKays Solicitors' CEO Kerri Borg, principal Mark McGrath, principle Jeremy Seeto.