Over the last month, we’ve been supporting some fantastic charities who have provided much needed support during what can be a difficult time of year for many, and especially significant in the context of this year.

In November, our Head of Bids, Dave Clarke, was starting to grow a reasonable length beard and this gave the Marketing team an idea on one of their virtual weekly catch-ups! And so, the idea of Dave sporting a glitter beard for a full day of meetings, including taking his children to school was born. After the amazing job our NHS heroes have done this year, Dave decided to donate towards the fantastic NHS Charities Together cause. A huge well done from us on your fundraising efforts!

We’ve also been supporting the wonderful Wood Street Mission who supports families across Manchester and Salford who struggle to make ends meet. With our Head Office based here, it’s fantastic to be able to support local families in need. We would usually collect gift items within the office, but with many of us working from home this year, instead, we were able to send money donations over.

Another local charity we have supported is the brilliant Stockport Care Leavers campaign from the Goodness Collective, which supports young care leavers. When young people leave care at the age of 18 they often have very little, so this charity ensures each young person has gifts for Christmas to make this time of year less isolating. Last week the charity was able to deliver over 130 gift bags to young people to make their Christmases a bit more festive.

“Huge shout out to APS Group for supporting with our Stockport Christmas Care Leavers campaign. Amazing to have local businesses supporting local need. Thank you!” Simone, The Goodness Collective.

On December 11th our teams took part in the Save the Children Christmas jumper day and we had a huge range of interesting jumpers on display for Teams calls that day! But we think it was Finlay the dog who really stole the show in his full Santa outfit, including hat!

As part of our Christmas message to clients and staff this year, we included some festive games to enjoy. Alongside our Christmas e-card, we re-created traditional games such as Trivial Pursuit and guess the cracker joke punchline and with each reply with answers received, APS donated to charities across our regions. The charities were chosen by a representative from each region and they were as follows:

  • Our Head Office in Manchester chose 42nd Street which is a local innovative young people’s mental health charity that provides free and confidential services to those experiencing difficulties with their mental health and wellbeing
  • Our Scottish office is supporting the Streetwork charity who supports people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Everything they do is about enabling a life off the streets through support and linking to the right services available
  • Our office in The Netherlands is donating towards the Linda Foundation that supports children living in poverty that cannot grow up carefree.
  • Our USA office has decided to contribute towards the Home for Little Wanderers that provides programs and services for every stage of child and family development. They strengthen vulnerable families and keep children safe in their own communities
  • Our London office has donated between two charities, the Little Village food bank based in Camden, Wandsworth and Southwark and the charity Sense that support anyone living with complex disabilities.

Thanks again for all your support this year and looking forward to a prosperous 2021.