BUSINESS AS A FORCE FOR GOOD Our support of charities and events within our community used to be a bit haphazard. In 2009 we decided to set up a “Charity of the Year” initiative, to pool together the efforts of our eight offices and focus on making a big difference for one local charity. In order to get our people behind the idea we knew we had to involve them in selecting the charity. Over the years we have fundraised for Sobell House, B.O.B Air Ambulance, Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, The British Heart Foundation and, most recently, Oxford Children’s Hospital. Written by: Victoria Lyall
budding bakers “ Our across our eight offices do like to hold bake sales, whether they sell to the public or to their sweettoothed colleagues!
”
As 2019 was our 10th anniversary of having a centralised charity partner, our aim was to raise £10,000 for the Children’s Hospital, based at the John Radcliffe. The charity funds the best medical equipment, research, training and facilities for both patients and staff. The hospital wards are very bright and happy spaces, built around the needs of children and their families, with indoor and outdoor play areas, sensory rooms and even a school on-site.
Activities We held several events throughout the year, and our people were superb in their enthusiasm, volunteering for the various events: • OX5 RUN: This event takes place around the beautiful grounds of Blenheim Palace and the glorious spring weather made the event really special. We had 37 people - and six dogs 34
walking or running the course. We were told this was the biggest corporate team the event has ever had and TeamFK raised £3,590. • Bake sales: Our budding bakers across our eight offices do like to hold bake sales, whether they sell to the public or to their sweet-toothed colleagues! We held bake sales throughout our offices in March, May and December and raised a total of £992.10. • Bucket collections: We manned bucket collections at supermarket foyers in May and November, raising a total of £300.64. We also heard some heart-warming stories from people who have had direct experience with the Children’s Hospital. • Quizzes: We had held a quiz night in 2018 and found it was a firm favourite. In May 2019 we had 13 teams taking part and we had secured a fantastic raffle, with prizes generously donated from our friends in Summertown, including Tesco,
Majestic Wine, Cannelle Medispa and many other retailers. Later in the year Rachel Thraves, Senior Property Manager in North Oxford, designed a quiz, which we completed individually and the winners were announced at the company Christmas party. Together, the quizzes raised £1,187.10. • Skydive: The more fearless team members signed up for the Great Horton Skydive and got support and donations from all their colleagues and friends and family. After a couple of false starts (the jump was postponed twice due to poor weather!) the team successfully completed their tandem skydives, raising an impressive £1,246.46. • Oxford Half: In October nine of our people ran the Oxford Half Marathon. Elsewhere along the course, 15 of our team members had volunteered at an aid station. They stood in the pouring rain in Marston from 7.30am to midday, handing out water and shouting words WWW.B4-BUSINESS.COM
