At the start of January Project Hope was launched as a joint initiative between the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust and the Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT), to support the wellbeing of our local NHS and care staff. It was set up to relieve stress and allow our hardworking NHS staff to know that they are appreciated. Queen Elizabeth Hospital is at the heart of our local community, actively fighting against Covid 19, and Project Hope was set up to bring together the community and local businesses to support our frontline workers efforts by donating some much needed items to them.
As the Principal Partner of CACT, ITRM were keen to explore ways that we could support this amazing project. In normal times, our Corporate Social Responsibility Programme invites our staff to spend one day out of the office every year to support a community or charitable cause/project. Whilst it has not been possible to do this as we have done in previous years, it hasn’t stopped us finding alternative ways to support the community!
Project Hope successfully supported local NHS workers for 3 months, providing a great opportunity for us to help during the pandemic and our staff have been keen to be involved. Staff were invited to make a monetary donation, of any amount, which ITRM matched and all money raised was used to purchase a selection of much-needed items to make up our ITRM donation. Together we raised an incredible £500!
CACT, who worked closely with the NHS, helped us with our shopping list and ITRM’s Business Operations Manager, Sue, and Marketing Executive, Sophie, set out to the shops to collect ITRM’S donation. This included male and female toiletries, hand creams and lip balm, healthy individually packaged snacks such as dried fruits, nuts, cereal bars and individual tea bags, coffee, sugar and milk sachets along with recyclable cups, to name just a few items items.
On 18th February our Managing Director, Dave, delivered these to CACT at The Valley and they were packed and ready for delivery to Lewisham Hospital on the same day.
Dave said:
"Project Hope is fantastic programme and so very important in supporting our NHS and care staff who have worked tirelessly in the toughest of circumstances. By inviting staff to fundraise internally, they have had the opportunity to help with the Project by contributing to our donation. Everyone’s generosity has been amazing, and together we are proud to be able to support the Council and CACT in this joint initiative by delivering a selection of much needed items to our local NHS. We hope this goes a small way in showing our gratitude for their hard work."
Our Business Development Manager, Danny, was one of the many members of staff who made a donation to the project. He commented:
"I think it’s important to help those who have been putting their lives on the line for the past 12 months to save lives in this fight against Covid. Our long-term relationship with CACT enables us to see their great work in the community and help other charitable causes. I wanted to make a small donation to Project Hope to show my appreciation and to say thank you to those frontline workers and volunteers."
Charlie Macdonald, CACT’s Director of Youth, Health and Inclusion, said:
"Thank you so much to everyone who donated to Project Hope. We’ve been blown away by the generosity of so many people in our local community who wanted to do their bit during a really difficult time".
As part of our CSR programme we work with CACT throughout the year to support their work in the community. This month, we are excited to be involved in the CACT Upbeats walk and look forward to the rest of the year!