Charity: Recruiters step up to 10k challenge; Walker Morris announces charity of the year; and more

STAFF from Elevation Recruitment Group took on the Asda Foundation Sheffield 10K organised by Run For All, in support of two local children’s charities.

The firm entered the Sheffield 10K as a ‘Mixed Corporation’, meaning that the average finishing time of the first two ladies and first two men over the line was calculated into the firm’s overall finish time of 48 minutes 28 seconds – making them the fastest team to complete the race.

With offices based in Sheffield and Leeds, the recruitment firm has opted to spend 2016 fundraising for a charity local to each city. A combined total of more than £1300 has been raised for the Children’s Hospital Charity in Sheffield and the Leeds Children’s Charity.

“It was a really enjoyable day for the entire team,” said Amna Mehdi, marketing manager at Elevation Recruitment Group. “The team has taken part in quite a few challenges this year, including the Yorkshire Marathon, the Yorkshire 3 Peaks and the Leeds Half Marathon, and we’re all really proud of the money we’ve raised for our two charities as a result.”

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LAW firm Walker Morris is on the starting blocks ready for an exciting year of fundraising for Candlelighters.

Following a successful year supporting Bone Cancer Research Trust, Walker Morris has announced Candlelighters as its 2017 chosen ‘Charity of the Year’.
In the last 12 months the firm has raised over £16,000 for Bone Cancer Research Trust, which will be used for vital clinical research and improved early diagnosis and referrals.

Sally-Ann Waller from the firm’s charity committee, said: “We are delighted to announce Candlelighters as our charity for 2017. Our charity is nominated and chosen by our employees and aims to highlight the importance of making a positive contribution to the local community.

“Candlelighters is a charity close to our hearts due to the support they have recently provided to one of our employees. It is a privilege to support the charity to enable them to continue to care and support children and their families fighting children’s cancer across Yorkshire.”

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THOUSANDS of people connected to 163 small community groups around the country are celebrating this week after the UK’s fourth largest building society showed its mutual values by giving them £81,500 in vital funding.

Fifty of these groups are based in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

The money is the culmination of Skipton Building Society’s Grassroots Giving scheme – a programme set up specifically to provide funding for small community groups, clubs and organisations across the UK. These groups often struggle to access mainstream funding due to their size or due to the increasingly complex and arduous application process often encountered.

Over the last four years, Skipton has donated £323,000 to small community groups – groups that are predominantly run by unsung heroes in their spare time, volunteering countless hours to help others in their local area.

Now in its fourth year, Skipton’s Grassroots Giving scheme gives £500 to each winning group which has achieved a high enough proportion of the 38,000 public votes cast. After making it through to shortlisting stage, the society profiled each group on their website and asked the public to vote for who they wanted to get the money. The top 163 groups then receive the vital funds.

Stacey Stothard, of Skipton Building Society’s Grassroots Giving team, said: “Giving something back to local communities is at the heart of mutuality and is something we’ve been doing for over 160 years. Our Grassroots Giving winners are all self-funded groups who work tirelessly to improve their local community and we’re proud that our money will play a huge role in their future growth.”

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STAFF at Caddick Construction has raised more than £4,100 for homeless charity Centrepoint after taking part in a sponsored sleep out.

Seven members of the team bundled up along with hundreds of others at The Provident Stadium in Bradford to experience what young homeless people go through every night that they sleep outdoors or in an unsafe place.

Debbie Watson, marketing manager at Caddick Construction, took part in the activity. She said: “We were really keen to raise funds for Centrepoint as they support a lot of young homeless people in getting the training and qualifications needed to get a foothold in the construction industry.
 
“The experience was extremely humbling. It was a long, cold night with little sleep, but we know that young people experience much worse than that every night.”

The sleep out is Centrepoint’s flagship fundraising event, and this year the charity aims to raise £500,000 to help them tackle rough sleeping. The sleep out will take place in 12 cities across the UK in November, with thousands expected to take part.

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BAM Nuttall, the civil engineering contractor, has donated five bicycles to local charity The Works.

The BAM Nuttall team working on Phase 1 of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme gave the bikes to the Hunslet- based charity, who repair second-hand bikes before giving them as Christmas presents to children from disadvantaged backgrounds in the city.

“These bikes were originally bought for staff to cycle around the city centre and get between the various work sites on the project,” says Jonathan Bulmer, an engineer at BAM Nuttall. “We don’t need them anymore but they are in fantastic condition so we wanted to find them a new home. We’re really pleased that The Works charity will distribute the bikes to local youngsters who don’t already own a bike in time for Christmas.”

BAM Nuttall is currently installing the UK’s first movable weirs to be used for flood defence purposes. The new weirs will replace the existing fixed weirs at Crown Point and Knostrop on the River Aire.

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COMMUNITY regeneration and housebuilding specialist Keepmoat has supported the St Vincent’s project in Leeds in its efforts to continue tackling poverty and deprivation amongst local communities.

Employees at Keepmoat’s office in Leeds, donated a large amount of unwanted clothing to the Working Wardrobe campaign; which included formal attire such as business suits through to more casual and practical items.

Sarah Hopkinson, community engagement and investment coordinator at Keepmoat said: “St. Vincent’s is a fantastic organisation which is wholly committed to working with deprived local residents and helping them to build a brighter future out of poverty.

“Keepmoat only opened an office in Leeds early this year, but we have considerable projects in the area and we are dedicated to working with local communities to improve the area overall. Clothing such as suits can make all the difference for candidates going to interviews and improve their chances of gaining employment and educational opportunities. We also hope that by giving fresh, clean clothing, we can work with the project to help empower people to get out of poverty and stay out for good.”