What made you want to support Wood Street Mission?

All of our charitable giving relates to caring for children that need some form of support. We spend our professional lives providing financial support to families when they suffer a loss of health or bereavement and our charitable work carries on this theme. We have enjoyed a relationship with Wood Street for a number of years and we passionately believe in the work that they do to help those that are going through a tough time.

Your support has been invaluable, tell us about how you supported the Christmas project.

We always do a Christmas campaign that provides a large toy drop very early on which helps Wood Street to plan and distribute the toys as early as possible. It’s also really important that we give the items requested by Wood Street. Older kids are often forgotten and this is something that we address by ordering electrical goods and aftershave/perfumes.

How did you get your team involved with supporting the project?

The team were all involved in selecting the gifts.  We visited our local toy store and everyone was given a list and an age group.  It was like a team supermarket sweep but in a toy shop.  It was great fun and an easy way to ensure that we got everything that was needed.  We all went to Wood Street to deliver the toys and it was great for us all to meet the team and see first hand how the toys would be distributed.

What was the most fun or rewarding part?

The knowledge that the kids will have a happy and memorable Christmas, a more enjoyable school experience, and an introduction to books that hopefully stays with them for life.

Tell us about how you are supporting our SmartStart appeal?

We decided to show our commitment by donating company funds when a customer chooses to do business with us. When a client chooses to look after their family, they will also be looking after other children from the community too. It’s a win-win!

How did it feel to be supporting a small, independent and local charity? Did it help being able to see the tangible effect of your support first-hand, when dropping off donations for us?

For sure. Having feedback from the charity and not just feeling as if you are dropping off goodwill without any understanding of how it is being used/benefitting those in need, is really important for engagement of our staff and the awareness of others that could get involved and do similar.

What would you say to someone who was thinking about supporting Wood Street Mission?

Just give it a go. Go and meet the team and then if you like what you see, do whatever you can. Anything is better than nothing and the kids will benefit. You can’t put a price on the feeling of helping those in our communities that need it. Our saying is “if you can, you should”.