PPM Team Volunteer for Give A Day To The City 2019
- Tuesday, 23 July 2019
- Written by PPM Ltd
It was another incredible year for the Give a Day to the City initiative and PPM were delighted to be taking part again, helping with a number of projects in the City.
Give a Day 2019 took place on Sunday 30th June through to the 6th July. There were an amazing 43 projects delivered by over 1000 people, helping to make Carlisle the most generous city on Earth. It’s wonderful to see how the projects keep growing in number and scale since Give a Day (GAD) started back in 2015, not only this but people’s enthusiasm and fierce generosity.
The PPM team started the week at Harker Grange. The former nursing home is going to be used as a haven for people with mental health, relationship or psychological issues by providing counselling and therapy in the rural retreat. The social enterprise, Hope Psychological Services, who run the centre requested help with some painting which PPM helped with alongside Bell Group UK.
Nathan and Deb from the Grange were wonderful hosts and we were treated to the most amazing homemade cream tea which was very welcome by the end of the afternoon.
Next up was the Portland Square Spruce-Up, this was all hands on deck to help restore the community garden area to its former glory by painting the railings and tidying up the gardens. There are a lot of railings (over 1400!), however, the old saying goes that ‘team work makes the dream work’ and by the end of the week and the contributions of many local businesses and people, the railings were restored and looking amazing. We were delighted to be working alongside Carlisle City Council, the Carlisle Partnership team, Food Carlisle and Warwick Mill to complete our section.
Andy Fearon, who originally set up the GAD initiative five years ago, was fantastic in rallying the troops, alongside the amazing GAD team who delivered tasty ice creams to the painting crew.
We also got a lovely surprise visit from the Carlisle Youth Zone team who had been very busy baking hundreds of delicious Goodwill Gingerbread biscuits to hand out to all the GAD heroes throughout the week.
We finished the week with the Shoeboxes of Smiles project which was organised by Michelle Masters of Michelle Masters Consulting. We work closely with Michelle through the Carlisle Ambassadors and most recently with the Young Carlisle Ambassadors. The aim of Michelle's project was to create 50 hampers of goodies to bring a smile to those in need. From the incredible response and generosity from local people, businesses and organisations, we managed to create 101 beautiful hampers of happiness. These were then distributed to individuals who had been nominated to receive a treat, along with people nominated through Carlisle Carers, Age UK Carlisle and Eden, the women’s refugee, Eden Valley Hospice and Jigsaw Children’s Hospice. It was so heart-warming to see pictures of the extremely happy and smiley first recipients who had been nominated by Cumbria CIPD.
Picture: Our PPM Hampers of Happiness, full of goodies
Picture: Some of the wonderful hampers put together from kind donations from local people and businesses.
Picture: The Shoebox of Smiles packing team
Picture: Age UK Carlisle & Eden receiving the beautiful hampers to distribute to local people in the community who they are in contact with.
Picture: Mel Kinsella, Chair of CIPD Cumbria Branch presenting one of the hampers, creating smiles and bringing happiness to the lovely recipient.
We were so proud to take part in the 5th year of the amazing Give a Day initiative. It’s overwhelming to see all the fantastic pictures of projects that have taken place during the week of giving and all of the GAD heroes who have got stuck in. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year.
To find out more about Give a Day to the City please click here