With over 130 in the team there’s always someone at Strand Group who is involved in some way in local fund raising. That might be taking part in a charity fun run, walk or swim, or organising an event. This prompted the group to review how they support local charities.
‘We get approached for donations by many worthwhile local charities, said John Hellowell, Chairman of Strand Group, and think it makes sense if we give our support to the projects that mean something to our own team. Charities that are close to their hearts and which they’re involved with.’
The most recent appeal has been for the Isle of Man Foodbank. This was at the suggestion of Strand Group office administrator, Emma Rourke, who also coordinates the charity requests. Rather than just make a cash donation, the team have also collected food items – canned goods and dry goods – like baked beans, tinned fruit, pasta, rice and other staples. ‘Doing this brings attention to the Isle of Man Foodbank as many people probably don’t know that it exists and it reminds us all that there are people here on the Island who would struggle without this support.’ said Emma.
The Isle of Man Foodbank went live in December 2013 and since then there have been 122 referrals for food parcels and support. A spokesperson for the Foodbank said, ‘In addition to providing food in crisis, one of the other functions of the Foodbank is to ascertain what might be the cause of someone needing food (debt, family issues, unemployment etc) so that a person can be signposted to other agencies that can help.’ To make a donation, the Foodbank admin telephone is 675503 (9-12 Mon-Fri) and is based at Housing Matters, 17 Peel Road, Douglas.
Strand Group is facilities management company Strand Facilities Services, secure document management company Storall, contract cleaning brand Krypton, and newly acquired commercial refuse collection business, Clean A Way.
Photo - Two of the Strand Group team who have collected groceries for Isle of Man Foodbank. A cash donation was also made.
Left to right Trish Clegg and Emma Rourke.
