Staff at Gaskells have taken part in a month of fundraising activity for their chosen charity The Whitechapel Centre, which helps homeless people and those at risk of becoming homeless across Liverpool.
October was the month we chose to make a difference as it incorporated the charity’s annual Liverpool Sleepout.
Among the fundraisers were swear boxes installed in all departments at head office for a week, with the option of staff paying 10p per swear word or £1 per day, to swear as much as they like! Most people took the latter option and the swear boxes across Transport, Accounts and Sales raised a total of £85.80. We never realised we had so many pottymouths in the office BUT it was swearing for a good cause!
Staff also chose to hold their own version of Bake-Off, which was adapted to being a pie-off, due to the number of pie lovers at our Head Office. All staff baked their own pies which were judged, and sold for 50p a slice or £1 for a slice of the winning pies. Owen from Accounts and Charlotte from Sales Support were our winners.
Six of our team joined the Liverpool Sleepout which is an annual event arranged by The Whitechapel Centre. It saw more than 100 people sleepout in the grounds of St James in The City church in Liverpool on Friday 12th October. It didn’t stop raining all night and our team’s Gaskells truck (made out of cardboard boxes and a tarpaulin) ended up very soggy, BUT our team raised more than £1400 for their night, through online sponsorship and donations from family and friends.
The big event of the month was a Charity Truck Pull at Aintree, which saw teams from businesses compete to see who could pull our Whitechapel Centre branded truck the furthest in 60 seconds. Teams from Pakawaste, EFC, Reconomy, Vehicle Weighing Solutions and of course Team Gaskells all took part, with Everton’s Neighbourhood team The Blue Mile scooping victory by pulling the truck more than 48 metres. It was a great day, and a lot harder than it looks! Everyone had jelly legs after the challenge, but it raised more than £2,000 thanks to added donations from Merseyrail and Roydon Recycling.
We have now counted all the money raised over October and it’s a whopping £3,888.42!!!!
Along with raising money, we’ve also raised awareness of the work the Whitechapel does, and two of our team have also now volunteered to become ‘Christmas Elves’ with the charity and will be helping sort out donations during the festive period.
Everyone at Gaskells is proud to work with The Whitechapel Centre as homelessness is an issue very close to our hearts. Our drivers see people sleeping on the streets every single day and as we head towards winter and colder weather, these people are more at risk. If you want to find out how you can help The Whitechapel Centre, click below.