At Ruth Lee, we take great pride in creating training products that help rescue teams save lives—especially when those teams are made up of everyday heroes!
In 2017, we launched our CSR initiative, Volunteer Heroes, as part of our commitment to supporting the communities we serve. This programme focuses on assisting volunteer-led rescue teams, which play a vital role in their communities but often struggle with limited funding.
In 2024, we received a record number of applications. After careful consideration and assessment of available funding, we were delighted to support 44 UK-based volunteer rescue teams through this initiative!
Volunteer Heroes is our way of giving back to the dedicated individuals who work tirelessly—often in challenging and hazardous conditions—to keep people safe. Having previously focused on supporting international rescue teams, this year, we decided to concentrate our efforts on UK-based volunteer teams, ensuring they receive the resources they need to continue their lifesaving work.
This latest round of donations has benefited many UK rescue teams, including mountain rescue squads, lifeboat crews, Surf Lifesaving teams, search and rescue units, and other emergency response volunteers. These teams rely on funding to maintain equipment, train their members, and respond effectively in times of crisis.
Sarah Hampson, Global Marketing Manager at Ruth Lee, commented:
“Our Volunteer Heroes programme is all about recognising and supporting the invaluable work of volunteer rescue teams. This year, we felt it was important to focus on UK teams, acknowledging the dedication of those who give their time freely to help others. We are incredibly proud to have donated to 44 teams, and we hope this support makes a real difference to their training and operations.
To date, our Volunteer Heroes programme has supported over 100 rescue teams worldwide, and we hope that, in some small way, our contributions have helped save lives through better training and preparedness.”
Impact and Appreciation from Rescue Teams
Many of the teams to receive donations have already written to express their surprise and gratitude to be included this year.
Ben Woodcock, of Longtown Mountain Rescue said,
“As a team we are over the moon that we have been fortunate enough to receive a training manikin. We want to thank you, from all of Longtown mountain rescue. For this fantastic scheme.”
Tom Mather of West Cornwall Search and Rescue said,
“That’s absolutely incredible news thank you so much, it really will make a massive difference to our training!”
Ben Hammond, Patterdale Mountain Rescue said
“This is absolutely fantastic news! Thank you so much. It will certainly be very well used with the team here in Patterdale and this will be great timing leading up to the Remote Medical Rescue Technician (formerly Cas Care) exams in the autumn.”
Ongoing Support for Lifesaving Initiatives
The Volunteer Heroes initiative is ongoing, and Ruth Lee remains committed to supporting volunteer rescue teams both in the UK and internationally. Applications for future support will be announced through our social media channels.
Beyond Volunteer Heroes, Ruth Lee actively supports other lifesaving or educational initiatives on both local and global scales. In recent years we partnered with the International Lifesaving Federation (ILS) and RLSS Commonwealth to donate training manikins to six low-resource nations, improving their lifesaving capabilities. Additionally, we have purchased and maintain six public access defibrillators in our local village communities, among many other projects.
To learn more about our CSR initiatives and the incredible teams we support, visit our Social Commitment Pages