Giving back: Raising funds and awareness for great causes

STR is passionate about encouraging STEM learning at grass roots whilst helping to solve the manufacturing skills shortage today, one placement at a time. Which is why the Group partnered with MakeUK to raise funds for the Smallpeice Trust and sponsor events like the STEM Challenge Days that the organisation holds in schools. Through the STEM Days, students receive information about career and higher/further education opportunities, put their creative thinking into action, and learn time management, team work, problem-solving, enterprise, personal and social skills.

Through our partnership with MakeUK, we were delighted to be able to present the Trust with a cheque for £2,000 in January of this year, funding a STEM Day at Miltoncross Academy for 60 students aged 12 to 13.

One of our Motiv8 GSR runners, Holly Noonan, pushed herself even further in April this year, completing the London Marathon and raising over £1,000 for Sailors’ Society. This organisation, a charity founded over 200 years ago, is dedicated to caring for the 1.6 million men and women who work as merchant seafarers, so they were an obvious choice for our maritime brand, Navis Consulting, when they were deciding who to raise funds and awareness for.

Holly felt thoroughly supported by her colleagues, especially Operations Director Hollie Smith, a seasoned marathon runner, who gave her training and gear advice, not to mention unrelenting moral support. She’s also hugely grateful to all her colleagues, clients, candidates, friends and family who contributed via her fundraising page, which is still open for donations through this link: Holly Noonan – Sailors’ Society. Holly also ran into work in the week leading up to the marathon (a journey of approximately 9 miles!) and held a bake sale that same day, all to help raise funds and awareness – we salute you Holly!

STR is a proud supporter of Macmillan Cancer Support and in September, we helped in the fight against cancer by hosting our eighth Macmillan Coffee Morning, raising £248 from our colleagues who generously donated their money, time and baked goods! We also wore it pink for Breast Cancer awareness in October, raising £60.

It has become a tradition in STR that every year in November, a number of our gents grow some fabulous facial hair to help raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues.

The results are variable, but we salute all the men that risk a bit of ribbing to show their support for this wonderful cause and encourage conversations around men’s health. Well done James Gigg, Oliver Page, James Rafter, Kam Khalighi, Rob Hutchings, Callum Jones, Aaron Edwards, Clive Hutchings, Paul Booth and Joe Page.

It’s that time of year when we want to spread as much cheer as possible, so, once again, STR teamed up with Fair Ways in December, a local fostering charity, to provide presents for children in foster care who may not otherwise be getting a gift this Christmas. We set up the Gifting Tree in our kitchen and decorated it with tags, which state an age and gender. Colleagues choose a tag then buy a present worth up to £15, wrap up the gift with the tag on, then pop the present back under the tree for collection by Fair Ways. A big thank you to all our colleagues who bought the requested board games this year.

Also in December, our urban team set up a collection box for Southampton City Mission’s food bank, who urgently require items from tinned food to toiletries for those in desperate need in our local communities.

Looking forward to 2024, the Welsh 3000s is a challenge that involves climbing all mountains in Wales over 3000 feet, usually attempted within a 24 hour period and covers 3 mountain ranges (Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon Massif, the Glyderau and the Carneddau) in the Snowdon region. It consists of 15 peaks and a climb of more than 2500 meters!

It’s no mean feat and you need to be very fit to take on this challenge; for some it’s a lifetime achievement. The idea was put forward by our own mountain man, James Gigg of Blackfield Associates, who has conquered several of the mountains over the last few years. After careful consideration, we decided that this would be our next fundraising activity for Motiv8. We’re taking this very seriously though, with a full training schedule planned, to ensure we tackle the challenge as safely as possible. Clive Hutchings, Group Founder and Executive Director, explained:

“I wasn’t sure about doing it at first because it’s actually a little bit dangerous, especially going over a pinnacle called Crib Goch, which we’ll either be doing with very tired legs or in the dark . However, I decided that as long as I was there to make sure we didn’t bite off more than we can chew, and everyone stuck to the training schedule, then this would be a healthy physical and mental challenge to take on.

“We’ll be doing this in support of Motiv8 and hoping to raise around £2,500. Lots of training to come – wish us luck!”

Subject to the British weather (never predictable!), our tenacious team will be aiming to complete the climb in June. Keep checking back to see how Clive, James Gigg, Tom Fitzmaurice, Joe Page, James Rolfe and Emma Reece are getting on with their training.

We’ll keep you updated on all our awareness and fundraising activities over 2024 through our website’s blog page and social channels. Thank you to everyone – colleagues, clients and candidates – who help make a difference by donating and supporting us in our efforts to give back to our local communities and the industries in which we work. We really appreciate it and you are truly making a difference.