Throughout 2020, the team at Rendall & Rittner completed a range of charity initiatives, each with the aim of raising both awareness and funds for a variety of much-needed causes. Collectively, we supported four key charities; Great Ormond Street Hospital and Stroke Association are our company charities, whilst MIND and Breast Cancer UK have been chosen by the staff. Additionally, we also chose to raise money for the NHS, taking part in the Run for Heroes challenge and donating to Sir Captain Tom Moore’s fund-raising page, as well as supporting recycle week. In total, over the course of the year, a huge sum of £15,537 was raised.
The first charity that Rendall & Rittner advocates for is Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). GOSH is a children’s hospital charity that provides care for children and supports doctors and nurses; allowing them to come together and achieve pioneering medical breakthroughs. For the 2020 Christmas appeal last month, our team saw £7,145.50 worth of toys and electronics donated, including a variety of board games, Kerplunk, Playdoh, Star Wars Lego and much more; providing comfort to those children not lucky enough to be home in time for Christmas.
Alongside GOSH, we also collected donations and took part in the Wood Street Mission, a charity that supports families living on a low income in Manchester and Salford, offering practical help and services. A total of 20 presents worth £500 were collected for children of all ages.
The second charity that Rendall & Rittner supports is Stroke Association; this charity provides stroke victims with the support and help to allow them to rebuild their lives, putting them on the right path towards recovery. A team of 14 agreed to take part in their ‘Spin for Stroke’ fundraising appeal that started on National Cycle to Work Day, embarking on a 300-mile challenge in our 30th year. The 300 miles covered the same distance between each of our offices across the country. Overall, we were delighted that between our 14 team members, we doubled our target and covered 600 miles over a 10-day period, raising £550 for the Stroke Association and awareness for such a deserving cause along the way!
As 2020 was Rendall and Rittner’s 30th year, we held a 30th Birthday week and ran a number of activities for our staff to participate in, raising money for both of our company charities, GOSH and Stroke Association. These included a lunchtime bake – a – long live session, a MR and MR broadcast with Matt Rittner and Duncan Rendall, the 30km team challenge and a 30th birthday quiz to finish the week off. In total, the staff raised an amazing £903.
Chosen by our staff, MIND is a mental health charity, providing support and guidance for anyone who is suffering with a mental health condition. Last year, during Mental Health Awareness Week in May, we held a “Get Fancied Dress Up Day” and raised £294 for the charity.
The final key charity chosen by our team is Breast Cancer UK, a charity which raises awareness of how you can improve your protection against breast cancer and provides practical advice on lifestyle changes to reduce your risk. During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we took part in the #WearItPink Virtual Coffee Morning on the 23rd October 2020. We held this on the day of the launch of our R&R Café, which saw £280 donated by our wonderful team!
During the months of the first lockdown, many of our Rendall & Rittner team raised money for the NHS, taking part in the ‘Run for Heroes’ challenge and each running five kilometres. They each donated £5 and nominated a further five friends or family members to take on the challenge. An internal Teams’ page was set up to include everyone in the company where photos and motivational messages were shared and new nominations were tagged. Over 150 members of staff took part in the run, raising over £750. This sum was then doubled by the company, resulting in a donation of £2,000 to the Tom Moore Virgin Money just giving page.
As a little added extra, we decided to support a further two initiatives, with Battersea Power Station and Wandsworth Council’s ‘Power to Connect’ initiative being the first. The campaign was launched to help raise awareness of the issues around digital poverty and to support local families and patients at St George’s NHS Hospital who are struggling to stay connected during the COVID-19 outbreak. With the change to the teams working more remotely, we were able to donate 15 laptops and 17 monitor screens from head office, along with encouraging our local residents in the Battersea area to donate any unused computer equipment to the cause.
Lastly, the final bonus initiative we supported was clothing donations to White Rose in aid of Recycle Week, running from 21-27 September 2020. Collectively, the team at Rendall & Rittner generously donated an incredible 32,887 kg of clothing to our particular banks. Not only did this support the White Rose mission of the Aegis Trust, but also protected the environment, with our donations stopping 32,887kg of clothing from going to landfill and preventing an estimated 118,0393kg of CO2 missions.
by The Community Engagement Team
