Unipart’s Cowley site raised more than £1,500 for their chosen charity Oxfordshire Mind during the Big Charity Challenge 2023.
The Big Charity Challenge gives Unipart employees from around the world the opportunity to engage in a week of focused fundraising, with each site choosing one local charity to benefit.
The Cowley site met the challenge with great enthusiasm and raised £1,557, with Unipart’s central charity fund donation matching taking the total to £2,866.
Oxfordshire Mind is a mental health charity that strives to promote good mental health through the provision of high quality services, with the goal of not giving up until everyone experiencing a mental health issue gets both support and respect.
Brian Doran, Cowley’s Big Charity Challenge site lead, explained their campaign: “We first heard about Oxfordshire Mind in early 2022. When Unipart announced the format for the Big Charity Challenge 2023 each site was asked to support a charity. We canvassed people around the site and we decided to choose a mental health charity and it was clear the team wanted it to be a local one that could really benefit our community.
“Oxfordshire Mind really stood out because even though they were part of the bigger Mind Group they had offices based in and around Oxford and were dedicated to serving the local area.
“We held lots of events over the week including, a site raffle (we were overwhelmed with the prizes donated from our clients, suppliers, and the site), a football shooting competition, site quiz, bake off sale, pool competition, Silverstone driving simulator, and a football scratch cards game.
“It was great to see the whole site getting involved in fundraising and having some fun!”
Phil Radley, Cowley Team Leader, said: “It was great to have Oxfordshire Mind come into Cowley and explain all the good work they do and how our fundraising helps them. Having events like this in the workplace is a chance to raise money for a good cause and have a few laughs along the way.”
The Cowley team showed incredible generosity in their fundraising. Brian said: “The main highlight for us in Cowley was seeing people’s generosity. We’re still in the midst of a cost of living crisis so it’s very humbling to see people donate their hard earned money for a good cause. Hopefully, none of our people will ever have to use a service like Oxfordshire Mind, but it’s comforting to know it’s there.”
Sandra Dibling, Oxfordshire Mind Corporate Relationship Manager, said: “I’d like to thank all at Unipart for your very generous donation.”
The information below, provided by Sandra, shows what Unipart’s donation may be used for:
£10 could provide books for our service users reading group, helping people share their thoughts and make connections with others.
£80.26 could fund our wellbeing workers to run an assembly at school to support student’s mental health and wellbeing.
£93.38 could provide six one-to-one sessions for a vulnerable young person with an Oxfordshire Mind worker to help support their wellbeing.
£170 could fund an appointment with one of our wellbeing workers for five people, providing a safe space for someone to talk about their mental health and the support options available to them.
£200.53 could represent one person at a tribunal to ensure they get the benefits they are entitled to.
£400 could fund a two-week course for eight people to learn how to manage stress.
Unipart is proud to support Oxfordshire Mind and looks forward to even more fundraising in the future.