Squire’s Raises over £23,000 for Local Charities
Above from left: Martin Breddy, Managing Director, Squire’s Garden Centres and Richard Wells, Centre Manager, Squire’s Badshot Lea
Squire’s Garden Centres has raised an incredible £23,639.73 for local charitable causes over the last year* through its long-established ‘Charity of the Year’ programme.
The initiative, which began in 2012, sees each centre choose a local charity to work with over the course of the year, running 1 August to 31 July. Charitable organisations who are selected to partner with each of Squire’s 16 centres, must meet specific criteria – that they benefit local people with donations reaching a local cause (rather funds going to a national pot), they must be a registered charity and they are a family or people-based charity or support the environment.
Monies raised over the course of the year come from a variety of fundraising initiatives led by each centre. These include charity boxes located in each centre, ticket sales from Squire’s Christmas grottos, raffles and other customer activities, as well as larger events and initiatives run by individual centres such as customer quiz nights and physical challenges by centre teams, including in-store virtual bike rides. Centres may choose a charity that a colleague has a personal connection with or they may be aware of their work within the local community, but above all, ‘Charity of the Year’ is about making a big difference to local people.
In addition, Squire’s supports Greenfingers Charity, which builds gardens for children’s hospices, and Perennial, which assists people who work or have worked in horticulture. As well as many other local causes and events. This support is in addition to the figure donated to their charities of the year.
Sarah Squire, Chairman of Squire’s Garden Centres, comments: “I would like to congratulate colleagues on the terrific amount raised over the past year and for their efforts and enthusiasm to host various events which support our charities.
“We value being part of the communities in which we serve and supporting very localised charities is hugely important to us. Our team have forged some brilliant relationships over the past year, which in turn has helped delivered some fantastic funds for important local causes which I’m confident will make a difference to these organisations.
”I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all our customers for the fantastic generosity over the last year, despite the current financial climate. Without them, we could not have raised this wonderful total.”
Charities supported last year by Squire’s Garden Centres, and total amount raised, were:
