Darlington Building Society has manned a stall in Darlington Market to sell donated clothing, books, DVDs, bric-a-brac etc to help provide much needed funds (£1335.00) for Darlington-based St Teresa’s Hospice.
The initiative was the idea of Chief Executive, Colin Fyfe who played his part along with the rest of the team who arrived first thing in the morning to set up the stall and stayed until 5.00 pm having helped to load up the Darlington Building Society van with surplus stock, of which, thankfully, there was very little.
Following a rebrand of the Society in early September, Darlington Building Society was keen to reaffirm its commitment to the regional community and to reinforce its vision to be a thriving, independent, regional building society that creates a feeling of pride amongst its staff, members and the community. To help promote the new brand, everyone was keen to wear their new t-shirts showing the new “smiley-face” logo.
The huge stock of goods for sale was donated by Darlington Building Society staff with a few extras being donated by Society customers. Everyone was kept really busy throughout the day talking to hundreds of buyers and generally having a really good time in a good cause. Darlington Building Society allows each member of staff at least one full day each year, fully paid, to do volunteering work and on this occasion St Teresa’s Hospice was the beneficiary.
St Teresa’s offers free care and services for residents of South Durham and North Yorkshire who are affected by life-limiting illnesses with the aim of improving their quality of life. It is an independent charity and after an element of government funding needs to raise over £1m per year, or almost £19,231 per week to enable it to continue to provide vital services to the community at times of great need.
Colin Fyfe said, “This was a real change from our day job and it was a good bonding exercise not only between the directors and staff but also with the general public whose support has been fantastic. There has been a lot of good humoured banter which has helped us to connect better with our existing customers and potential customers”.
He added, “Best of all though we have managed to raise the fabulous sum of £1,335 for St Teresa’s Hospice which makes all that hard work worthwhile”.
Jane Bradshaw, Director at the Hospice said, “Darlington Building Society has been supporting us for over 20 years and it is a relationship we really appreciate. As well as raising such an impressive sum with their market stall, the Society has also just paid for the printing of another 15,000 St T’s ‘T-Boxes’ where people can store their loose change and donate it to us”.
She added, “I cannot thank Colin and his team enough for their efforts and we look forward to working with Darlington Building Society for many years to come”.