A year of fundraising and awareness raising by Sainsbury’s Superstore on Wetherby Road has culminated in a donation of £2,225 to the Harrogate Easier Living Project (HELP).
In July 2014, the Great Place to Work Team at the store nominated HELP as its charity of the year and began a series of challenges and events to highlight its work supporting older and vulnerable people living independently in the district. Activities included a fundraising bike ride, a Christmas bag pack and an ongoing second hand book stall. Alongside this, the charity held information stands in the store as a platform for promoting its services and volunteer opportunities to a wider audience.
The store has just announced that it will continue its support for the charity into 2016, along with Leeds Road, Cold Bath Road and King’s Road convenience stores, allowing it to build on the success of the past 12 months.
Jane Cozens, HELP Service Coordinator, said:
We are so grateful for the support Sainsbury’s has given us over the past 12 months. The money will help make a real difference to the people we support. But beyond that, the partnership has allowed us to raise our profile to a whole new group of people who have become clients, volunteers and supporters.
It is an exciting time for HELP as we are about to launch a new voluntary car driving service, ‘Driving Force’, providing door to door transport to people who cannot access public transport. Working with Sainsbury’s is going to allow us to reach out to more people and engage more volunteers to help run the service. We are really looking forward to the next 12 months and the opportunities it will bring.
With the help of 70 dedicated volunteers, the Harrogate Easier Living Project (HELP) runs services to support older and vulnerable people and those with a disability to remain living independently.
The charity’s projects include Help at Home – an odd job, decorating and gardening service for people who can’t manage the tasks themselves, and Opening Doors – an outings service to help tackle social isolation in the community.
Members of Opening Doors enjoyed a ‘Coffee & Shopping’ trip to Sainsbury’s recently, giving them an opportunity to thank the team for their ongoing support.
Richard Slack, PR Ambassador at the store, said:
As we all get older and live longer, how wonderful it is to be in a position to help people keep their independence and remain part of the community. All of us at Sainsbury’s look forward to another year, supporting HELP in achieving that aim.
Thanks to the fundraising support of organisations like Sainsbury’s, in the past 12 months the Harrogate Easier Living Project has carried out 300 gardening, decorating and DIY jobs, organised over 450 outings and given over 2,200 hours of respite to carers.
Anyone wishing to find out more about becoming a voluntary car driver for Driving Force, can contact the HELP office on 01423 813090 or email help@harcvs.org.uk. The volunteering opportunity is designed to fit in with people’s busy lifestyles as volunteers do not have to commit to any regular times or days.
For more information about HELP visit www.harcvs.org.uk/HELP.
Ends
Picture captions: Members from Opening Doors, one of the services offered by the Harrogate Easier Living Project, with customer service team member Martina Georgiou at Sainsbury’s café.
Opening Doors service user Marjorie Flower and HELP Service Coordinator Jane Cozens receive the generous donation from Store Manager Mark Edwards and employees of Sainsbury’s.
For more information please contact Lizzie Hughes at the Harrogate Easier Living Project on 01423 813093 or lizzieh@harcvs.org.uk
Notes to editors
The Harrogate Easier Living Project (HELP) works with volunteers to help older people or those with a disability to remain independent in their own home
Opening Doors provides one to one support for disabled and older people to access social and leisure activities and medical appointments
Help at Home provides a decorating, gardening and DIY service. Staff and volunteers help those who can no longer manage tasks around the home, have no family who can help or can’t afford to pay for a professional service
Carers Time Off offers carers the opportunity to have a break from their caring commitments by arranging for a volunteer to provide 2-4 hours of cover in or outside of the home
Driving Force is a voluntary car driver service providing door-to-door transport for non-urgent trips. We help local people without access to their own transport and unable to use public transport due to mobility, disability or location to make journeys to medical appointments, day centres & lunch clubs, shopping and social outings.
www.harcvs.org.uk/help
