Taopix has an incredible sense of community, regularly engaging in charity events or themed dress up days in aid of a good cause. We organised a collection within our office throughout the period of Lent to group together and donate as much as we could to our local food bank, Cramlington Food Bank which is part of the Trussell Trust’s network.
What is ’40 days of giving’?
Instead of asking our staff to fit into the traditional notion of giving a luxury up for the duration of Lent, we instead asked them to consider those who do not have anything to give up and to see what they could themselves give. In a time when the UK cost of living only continues to increase, this was a big ask. Participation was totally optional – we prepared an anonymous drop-off point within the office where the team could pop in with their donations, and the response that we received from our colleagues was no less than impressive.
When was this?
Our collection ran between 2nd March and 14th April, amongst our team only. Collectively, we managed to put together a huge haul of approximately 380 items. As an idea borne from the team themselves, it was even better to see the company directors and CEO getting behind our efforts with their very generous donation.
What was collected?
Amongst the collection were nappies, tinned fruit and vegetables, long life dairy & non-dairy milks, sauce jars and toiletries including shampoo & conditioner, hand soap, shower gels, toothbrushes, sanitary products, and lip balms. Our shopping lists were directed by the Trussell Trust’s website, where you can access lists of what is desperately needed. We also checked to see what is already well supplied so that we could focus on what is needed the most.
Around 380 items were collected, which required three of our cars to deliver to the food bank! With the use of shopping trolleys at The Hope Centre, we were able to quantify this a little easier and see that we had filled seven large shopping trolleys with goods. Cramlington Foodbank weighed our donation in at an impressive 236kg!
Taopix directors & CEO James Gray also agreed to contribute a £250 match in donations on behalf of the company, which helped us to build a significant donation of groceries for Cramlington Food Bank. We also accepted cash donations if anybody would prefer to donate money.
Why?
Choosing Cramlington’s Food Bank as the destination didn’t take too much thought. We wanted to engage in something which would allow us to feel as though we are directly helping the community local to our office. As the cost-of-living skyrockets, and the use of food banks snowballs, we thought that there would be no better time than the present to choose this service as the destination for our donation.
Each member of the Taopix team was involved in some capacity, entirely voluntarily. Working amongst a group of people who are happy to donate their time or own money to help others is an uplifting experience which perfectly represents the culture of Taopix. A friendly atmosphere with regular charitable events throughout the year wraps the office up in a way which fosters a positive working environment full of care and consideration for others.
We were featured in our local paper! Read our write up in the Northumberland Gazette here!
Overall, we’re over the moon with the results of our first easter collection, and hope for it to become an annual event in the Taopix calendar!
