Voluntary Sector: The week in charities

PR Week UK, Friday, 05 June 2009, 12:00am,

Mencap's press and PR manager Sam Heath has left to join the Cabinet Office as chief press officer. Heath joined the charity in 2007 from Age Concern, where he was senior media relations officer. Lucy Hannagan will become acting PR and marketing manager.

The Orders of St John Care Trust, the UK's second largest not-for-profit care provider, has appointed its first PR agency. East Midlands-based Lava PR has been handed a five-figure budget to raise the trust's profile within the nursing and care industry media, as well as supporting its care homes across Lincolnshire and Oxfordshire. The retained brief follows a project Lava worked on for the trust at the end of last year.

Desperate Housewives star Dougray Scott is appearing in an online video for the British Red Cross' upcoming Look Beyond the Label campaign. The campaign is part of the annual Refugee Week (15-21 June) to promote the positive contribution refugees make to life in the UK.

Teamspirit Public Relations is providing pro-bono support to Moneyspinners, an umbrella fundraising group for the financial services sector that was launched this month. Moneyspinners has pledged to raise £1m for charity.