Our 12 Days of Helping Others campaign is highlighting the work our people are doing to support good causes in our communities over the winter period.
It's part of our wider Community Action Programme that gives our people the opportunity to volunteer for charities or good causes close to their heart on company time.
Everyone is given one day per year to get involved in volunteering activities to make a difference to their community.
Teams from our depots and offices across Scotland and southern England support numerous local organisations and helped on a wide range of projects including building a new driveway for a disabled customer, giving a new lease of life to several garden areas and helping create a new home for rescued animals.
We’re always looking for new opportunities to help people in the communities we work in. If you know of an organisation who could benefit from our help, let us know here.
Find out more about how our people are making a difference this winter in the stories below.
For over 20 years, Rob Ashman from our South Construction team has spent every winter towing Santa’s sleigh around Burgess Hill in support of the Rotary Club. Every year, street collections raise around £2,500 to fund local and international good causes.
When Santa needed a new sleigh, Rob contacted local businesses to raise £7,000 worth of funds and supplies. The new sleigh meant Santa could get around town more easily and with an improved sound and light system. The local community can even track the sleigh in real time on his tours each night through a dedicated website.
In 2022, Rob was recognised as a Paul Harris Fellow for all his hard work in towing Santa – for Rotary Club members, it’s a great honour to receive and for Rob, a non-Rotary Club member, it’s a great recognition for his achievements.
Rob says: “Having towed Santa for so many years now it has been great seeing the same faces getting older each year and what started as young children now developing to becoming parents themselves and keeping the tradition going.”
Our Parents and Carers Network are encouraging our people to divert the money they’d spend on Secret Santa to support two charities close to the network’s hearts.
Stripey Stork in Surrey supports families facing financial hardship or other challenging circumstances. They collect new and preloved items for babies and children, ensuring they are clean, safe, and ready for a new home, working closely with local support services to distribute these essential items to families in need.
By donating their Secret Santa money, our people are supporting Stripey Stork’s mission of providing practical support to local families which could help furnish a child's bedroom, supply much-needed baby equipment, or even provide warm winter clothing for those who might otherwise go without.
For our Scottish colleagues, the Network are asking for donations to Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, the partner charity to Scotland's busiest children's hospital. They rely on the generosity of donors, fundraisers and partners to fund life changing projects and services that make a real and lasting difference to their young patients and families.
For donations made by our people, we’re matching the funds with our Into Action campaign.
Over the last four years, our Horley head office has been supporting local charity Freeshop Crawley every winter.
As well as inviting donations of food and money for children’s toys and Christmas hampers, every year our people are encouraged to ditch their office clothes in support of Dress Down December in return for a £5 donation. So far, they’ve raised an impressive £5,000.
The donations received by Freeshop Crawley go towards providing daily essentials for families struggling with the cost of living, helping more than 600 people a week.
Our world-first H100 Fife Hydrogen project is being delivered with the local community at heart. To support local organisations and charities, we recently helped out at festive events for children in the area.
Buckhaven and Denbeath Community Council’s Jingle Bell Bash saw Santa and Mrs Claus drop by to say hello to local children, with everyone invited along to an afternoon of Christmas shopping, free children’s activities, and to tuck into some locally sourced mice pies and sausage rolls. We supported the Bash by providing Santa’s carriage and trips in it for children, a face painter, baked goods, grotto and the hall hire.
We also donated around 200 selection boxes to Autism Rocks Fife’s Christmas Event as well as 150 books to the Rotary Club of Methil and Buckhaven’s Christmas event.
For the last four years, Executive Assistant Beverley Groenewald has been volunteering at the Seven Dials Lunch Club at Covent Garden Community Centre. The charity aims is to create a safe, social space for everyone aged over 55 and hosts a Lunch Club every Friday for approximately 60 people.
Over the festive season, the Lunch Club hosts two special days, each with around 100 people receiving a starter, main meal, dessert and some fizz.
Throughout the day, Beverley and the other volunteers serve the courses and clear plates, fill up glasses, chat to the diners, laugh and be merry.
Beverley says: “There are a lot of people that attend that have nobody – no family, no friends and nobody to talk to. This really is their only day out during the week, to get a full, decent, home cooked meal and to meet up with others. Over the years, I have got to know all of them on a more personal level and this has encouraged me to go back often. Nobody should be alone for Christmas and for most of them, this will be their only Christmas meal, their only time out of their home for a number of weeks to feel warm, festive, comfortable and safe.”
For people without a home, winter can be difficult time of year. Catching Lives supports people in Canterbury and East Kent by providing essential facilities and individual support to improve housing, health, and social connection.
This Christmas, our Ashford depot asked colleagues to donate food for families as well as raising £266 that was spent on hats, scarves, gloves, underwear and toiletries for the charity’s clients.
Catching Lives were very grateful for the depot’s generosity and said they “appreciate the time and effort from SGN to provide such amazing gifts for people (and dogs) this Christmas”.
Not every child is lucky enough to receive a gift at Christmas, which is why our depot in St Mary Cray rallied round to take part in Family Action’s Toy Appeal.
From books to board games, our people donated over 100 toys to make sure children aged 0 to 16 have something to open on Christmas Day, while others donated money to buy gifts on their behalf.
