Smarter Giving Update – October 2023

Our members have once again shown their commitment to supporting the local community over the last few months, with a range of superb volunteering and donating activities.

Clothes Drive

We had a great response to our clothes drive in September. Local businesses Invesco, BNP Paribas, Marcol, HSBC and Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill, as well as multi-tenant buildings 55 Baker Street, 95 Wigmore Street and 10 Portman Square, hosted collection bins in communal areas to collect quality used clothing and accessories that were then distributed to local charities – The Marylebone Project, St John’s Hospice, Smart Works and Portman Early Childhood Centre.

Donations

Local charities are always very grateful for donations of unwanted office equipment and other items that can help them deliver an even better service to their clients. Over the last few months, donations have included:

• Energean donated a range of IT equipment to HomeStart Westminster, IMPS Nursery and Portman Early Childhood centre
• Multiverse donated TV screens to St Marylebone School, a large bag of coffee beans to St Mary’s Social Supermarket, and toiletries to The Marylebone Project.
• Veld Capital donated sanitary bins to The Marylebone Project
• Cushman and Wakefield donated a large amount of clothing to St John’s Hospice

In addition to this, UST Global and Colliers sent financial donations to a local primary school for new fiction books for their library. Colliers also made a financial donation to St Mary’s Social Supermarket. Knight Frank funded a bed space for a period of two months for a vulnerable lady via The Marylebone Project. And, Hyatt Regency- The Churchill provided catering for The Marylebone Project’s end of summer event.

Skill-Sharing

Providing work experience opportunities and placements, as well as chances for students and members of the community to get to know more about your industry and career opportunities, are great ways to support schools and community groups.

A representative from Zetter Townhouse delivered an inspirational career talk during a school assembly at a local secondary school. In addition to this, HSBC presented financial education talk during a parent coffee morning also at a local school.

Nobu accommodated a group of year 7 and 8 students for a tour of the hotel and a sushi masterclass. They also provided work experience for a number of local secondary school students, as did Zetter Townhouse.

Volunteering

It’s been a busy few months for volunteers! Teams from Invesco, Colliers, Cromwell Properties and Knight Frank volunteered many hours of time over the summer painting the corridors and walls at The Marylebone Project and improving the environment for those that work there as well as the charity’s centre users. Elsewhere, volunteers from Elemis carried out litter picking around the Church Street Ward area, and Selfridges bought and planted new flowers and plants in the community garden at Penfold Community Hub whilst providing an afternoon tea for the elderly community.

Our Smarter Giving initiative continues to go from strength to strength, with more and more of our members getting involved in a variety of activities to support vulnerable individuals and families in the area. More information, including how you can get involved is available here, or get in touch with our Community Impact Manager Hannah here.