Supporting our community in 2019
As 2019 draws to a close, we take a reflective look over the last 12 months and the incredible charitable projects and initiatives we have supported as an organisation.
Our biggest fundraising target this year
St Elizabeth Hospice is an independent charity based in Suffolk which sets out to improve the lives of those with progressive and terminal illnesses. The work that they do relies heavily on fundraising efforts and donations from the local community so, as a staffing agency operating in the health and social care sector, it felt like an incredibly important cause for us to support. This year marks their 30th anniversary and we pledged to raise £3,000 which we are on-target to hit by 2020.
We began by taking part in ‘RideFest’, their static bike challenge whereby local businesses compete against each other. The first race saw staff members working together to cycle as many miles as possible in a 30-minute timeframe and the final race saw a respective CEO or senior manager from each company take on the challenge. We managed a team distance of 23.06km and Justin, our CFO, cycled 23.58km.
And through staff donations, cake sales, a tuck shop and dress down days, we are now incredibly close to hitting that target and are so proud to know just how much that will mean to the Hospice.
Making the most of dress down days
On the last Friday of each month, we host an internal ‘dress down’ day, which allows us to raise money for the causes which resonate most with our staff. There’s a diverse range of charities and community projects which have benefited from this, including East Anglian Air Ambulance, Alzheimer’s Society and Suffolk Mind.
Running for glory
Tom Loomes and John Rudland competed in a triathlon and Jeni Watts made her running debut in the Ipswich Twilight 10k, both raising money for Suffolk Accident Rescue Service (SARS), who provide specialist volunteer responders to assist the East of England Ambulance Service at the scenes of serious incidents. Molly Linge, Lilly Bak and Megan Anderson climbed, crawled and slid to the finish line in the Ipswich Pretty Muddy 5k and Jeni completed a half marathon for Cancer Research. Tom also took part in a half marathon, raising money for both St Elizabeth Hospice and Motor Neurone Disease Association (MND).
Celebrating the life of a former colleague
Paul Woulfe worked with us for a number of years but tragically passed away from pancreatic cancer a few years ago. Jess Ling, one of Paul’s colleagues, set up Twinkle Trust; a fund for his young daughter and each year we hold a football match in his memory. We want to support Paul’s family, just as Paul supported us and are thrilled to say that in three years, we have raised over £3,000.
Supporting the sector
This is our ninth year as headline sponsor for the Social Worker of the Year Awards, a charity set up in 2006 to celebrate the achievements of social workers. We have watched it grow vastly in this time and have seen so many incredible examples of practice from across the country. Social work as a profession can sometimes feel thankless, but these Awards set out to change that and we are honoured to be a part of it.
How much we raised…
St Elizabeth Hospice: £3,062.70 and counting!
Cancer Research: £1,250
Suffolk Accident Rescue Service (SARS): £861
Twinkle Trust: £660
Motor Neurone Disease Association (MND): £250
Suffolk Mind: £167
Alzheimer’s Society: £161
World Down Syndrome Day: £160
Janet Wheeler Football Team: £160
Meningitis Now: £160
Little Princess Trust: £156
Total raised for charity in 2019: £7,347.70
We will be continuing our charitable and community endeavours throughout 2020 but we’d like to use this opportunity to congratulate and thank our staff for all of their efforts this year.
