BEC team’s festive fundraiser raises £2450 for two local charities
Calderwood House and Howgill Family Centre named as this year’s beneficiaries in annual fundraiser.
The BEC team has raised £2450 for two local charities this festive season.
Now in its second year, the annual fundraiser sees team members select two local charities before embarking on a Christmas party fundraiser where team donations are doubled, with the company matching the sums.
These fundraisers are part of the bigger picture of Giving BEC, where the company supports community organisations. This year has seen more than fifteen local community organisations benefit from more than 100 hours of the team’s voluntary time, in-kind advice and support from the Cumbria Exchange that BEC is a partner of.
Bringing together employees from all sites in the BEC estate – including Westlakes Science Park, Derwent Howe and the Cleator Moor HQ -this year’s efforts will benefit Calderwood House and Howgill Family Centre.
Howgill Family Centre is a registered charity that provides education, skills, health, and social care services for children and their families across West Cumbria. Calderwood House provides innovative solutions to homelessness, particularly prioritising ex-military personnel and the unemployed in West Cumbria.
For the second year, Adam Phillips, BEC’s Community & Energy Officer and Management Trainee Rachel Murray have led the charitable fundraiser internally as part of BEC’s community support initiative Giving:BEC.
Adam commented: “A huge part of our festive charity programme is increasing our internal understanding about the vital role the charities we choose play in our society. We are thrilled to have raised £1225 for each charity as well as raising awareness.”
Rachel added: “Christmas is such a happy time for so many people but it’s vital to remember that others are not so lucky and where we can, we should look to share our good fortune. This principal is the bedrock of our charitable choices this year. Howgill and Calderwood both do so much to bring cheer to those who may be isolated, lonely or vulnerable this December.”
Tracey Newbold, Early Help Support Worker from Howgill Family Centre commented: “This money will help us to ensure we can provide emergency food hampers over Christmas. So far we have had more than 70 from professional services referrals with requests to assist local families with hampers, so every penny helps to ensure no one goes without. Our team will also use the funds to help distribute unwrapped toys to parents and carers for them to wrap for children who otherwise would get very little.
Speaking about the donation, Calderwood House founder Rachel Holiday said: “Winter is sadly our busiest time. We are currently full of men and women of all ages. Our staff and volunteers need to work overtime, so no one is left outside at Christmas. Luckily we have fantastic staff on site 24 hours a day and we have food, warmth, kindness and compassion. Most importantly, we have people in our community who constantly support our project and keep the doors open to those in need. BEC employees have made a special difference this year, with these donations we will make sure no one goes hungry this Christmas.”
Michael Pemberton, CEO of BEC concluded: “I’m very proud of the programme that Adam and Rachel have run for us this year, and we are delighted to be able to support our community through these hard-working organisations.”