If you’ve spent any time in the food and hospitality industry you will have come across Hospitality Action. Whether it’s boots on the ground charity spadework or mixing with the great and the good at black tie events, they are a constant presence and a force for good in the industry.
Christmas means different things to different people. For some, it’s about entertaining family, friends and relatives, for others in foodservice it can be their busiest time for year in the kitchen, or in some cases it can sadly mean loneliness. But, the one thing that’s true for all that it gives us an opportunity to reflect. They say the greatest gift you can give someone is your time, so off the back of a successful #JBC12Days of Giving last year, naturally it only seemed right to do it all again for 2019. This year I already knew I wanted to give my time to a charity I was passionate about. With a 15-year equestrian background myself (mum says I was horse riding before I was walking!), I was lucky enough to come across Windsor Horse Rangers, and my decision was made.
For my Jellybean 12 days of giving I spent the day with the Comms (awareness and influence of prospect donors) and IGU Individual Giving Unit (Recruitment and commitment) teams at the Plan International UK offices in London. My purpose was to learn more about how they market their sponsorship programme and to share my own experiences – Jellybean has sponsored a child for every employee for over 32 years – and to host a workshop on what Plan International UK could do better in the future by leveraging their sponsorship database, maximising media opportunities and improving future communications to increase recruitment of sponsors.
After last year’s successful clothes sale to raise money for Cancer Research, picking this charity again was an easy decision. Having people close to me diagnosed with/or sadly losing their battle with cancer was a great reason for me to raise money, donate unwanted clothes/gifts and raise awareness of this fantastic charity.
As part of Jellybean’s 12 Days of Giving initiative, I decided to volunteer at Renewed Hope Trust, a local charity based in Redhill. The charity provides practical and emotional support to the homeless and socially disadvantaged of East Surrey and surrounding areas. Their support is invaluable and really impacts the local community directly, providing overnight shelter, meals, clothing and assistance in finding employment to those in need.
The British Heart Foundation is a charity that is close to my heart (excuse the pun), so it was great to head back to their Dorking charity shop to help out again this Christmas as part of Jellybean’s 12 days of Giving. Liz who runs the show and her team of volunteers were as welcoming as ever and I was happy to help out with whatever needed doing. The big change from last year was the number of volunteers, which meant that whereas last year there was masses to do, this year I arrived to see a back room which was very much in order with only a few bags and boxes to unpack. My first task was to head to the shop floor to refresh the shoe and bag display, taking off all the stock that hadn’t sold, adding new shoes and bags and re-merchandising the display to help attract shoppers (with a bit of light dusting thrown in for good measure).
It’s a profoundly tragic fact that in today’s society, loneliness, living alone and poor social connections can be as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and worse for you than obesity^. In fact, it’s estimated that nine million people in the UK across all adult ages are either ‘always’ or ‘often’ lonely*. Currently some 1.2 million older people in the UK are classified as chronically lonely In terms of our aging population – one that is living longer than ever – with the number of over-50s experiencing loneliness set to reach two million by 2025/6 – a 49% increase in just 10 years**.
It was dad jokes and flying carpets for Luca and I this year, as our joint 12 Days of Giving with Jellybean saw us helping Children With Special Needs Foundation (one of our valued charity partners) with the Christmas panto, Aladdin.
As part of Jellybean’s 12 Days Of Giving, I spent a day volunteering with Oxfam, supporting their Carshalton shop and lending my expertise to help them leverage social media in the run-up to Christmas.
As part of Jellybean’s 12 Days of Giving, I gave my time back to Leatherhead Youth Project (LYP), joining the first day of their Countdown to Christmas with a tree decorating competition!
I think many of us may take for granted that the tools we need to do our jobs are readily available to buy or will be provided by our employer, but for those less fortunate in poorer communities around the world, employment opportunities, training and tools are not so easy to come by.
For my 12 Days of Giving voluntary work I wanted to support a local charity I felt passionate about and use my skills in the best way possible. After a search on good old Google I came across Leatherhead-based children’s charity, Post Pals. Post Pals was set up to bring a little joy to sick children and their families. The concept is beautifully simple; choose a child or children profiled on the charity’s website, read about them from their profiles; their personalities, likes and dislikes, their family and their physical and mental condition. Then it’s your choice how you send them a little joy; either a letter, a card, a gift, or even an experience. The website encourages you to share these letters and gifts with not just the sick children, but also their siblings who can be overlooked, and even to consider sending a little joy to the parents who just may need an evening out for dinner.
“Give what you have. To someone it may be better than you dare to think.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
After the success of last year, I am delighted to kick off our ‘12 Days of Giving’ Christmas charity initiative, when the Jellybean team donates 12 days of our time to various charities that are closest to our hearts. This is on top of the 150+ hours we have already committed throughout the year to help local and industry charities. It is fitting that we launch this annual initiative on the 3rd December to coincide with Giving Tuesday – a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world.
