APR Charity Challenge
With working from home being the new norm, it has become challenging for businesses to find ways to keep a social scene going amongst colleagues. However, APR may have found a solution to part of the problem.
One of the few things lockdown still allows us to do is exercise, but even this novelty has worn thin with scientists at University College London reporting 40% of the 70,000 people questioned were doing less exercise than during the Spring lockdown last year[1]. With winter nights and the recent snow across the UK, it would be forgivable to stay at home under your duvet until warmer, sunnier summer days arrive.
Despite all that was stacked against us, during the month of February APR staff took on the mammoth task to participate in a virtual trek. The journey took us from our old Garden Studios office in London, to our swanky Spaces office in Edinburgh, then across the Irish Sea to meet our new colleagues in Dublin, back to England to visit Doreen at APR’s BH Office and to make it a nice round trip, finishing off again at our old Garden Studios office. This was around a staggering 990 miles, which APR tackled in teams over February via a platform called ‘My Virtual Mission.’ In true APR spirit, the mission was a competition with staff doing everything from running and cycling to HIIT workouts and boxing to complete the mission. Throughout the mission, the leaderboard fluctuated with every team being in pole position at some point, but I am very pleased to say every team managed to complete the mission, testament to the hard work and miles our staff put in. However, there must be a winner, which was “Holly’s Hikers” comprising of Adam Finn, Chandler Walker, Doreen Legge, Gary Heslop, Ian McFarlane, Jack Miller, James Robinson, Michael Scanlon, Morgan Smith-Woodhams and Mujtaba Syed.
A big congratulations also to Roger, Mohassin and Rhianna on travelling the furthest throughout the mission, with Roger having travelled a staggering 229.2 miles in 28 days! Gary on the other hand, travelled a mere 15.9 miles (it’s the taking part that counts).
Over the past year many charities have lost out on funding due to charity shops being shut and fundraising events being put on hold. APR felt this would be a good opportunity to raise some vital funds for a nominated charity whilst completing this mammoth mission. During Covid-19 it has become apparent many families are struggling to put food on the table and their dependency on food banks has increased day by day, so we thought it was only right to raise vital funds for the Trussell Trust. Between April 2019 and March 2020, they provided a staggering 1.9 million food supplies[2] (an 18% increase from the previous year), but people still need their help and they still need funding.
APR were keen to demonstrate our CSR values, hence APR staff and partners made equal contributions to the Trussell Trust. Staff donated £25 to enter the mission and APR donated 25p per mile on behalf of each participant, motivating everyone to get their team that bit closer to the finish line. Thanks to everyone that donated and took part in the mission, it allowed us to raise £2117.10 for such a beneficial charity. We hope all participants thoroughly enjoyed the mission. Now for a well-deserved rest.
Jenn Claybourn
March 2021
