POSITIVE BUSINESS
Property Search Group makes a spectacle of World Sight Day
The Swindon office, of independent conveyancing firm Property Search Group( PSG), recently joined forces with South West law firms Foot Anstey, WBW and Kitsons to hand over unwanted glasses, collected for the Vision Aid Overseas World Sight Day campaign, to Specsavers.
In celebration of October’ s World Sight Day, PSG’ s teams in Swindon, Somerset and Plymouth, visited law firms from across the region to collect old spectacles for recycling. The total number of specs collected amounted to just over 500 pairs.
International charity Vision Aid Overseas recycles the donated glasses and the income generated from the recycling process, is used to help build sustainable systems in more isolated communities across Africa. This includes building Vision Centres( the equivalent of UK opticians), training eye care workers and supporting outreach clinics to deliver affordable eye care services.
Elaine Connor at PSG Swindon said:“ We started working with Vision Aid Overseas after hearing that just £ 5 provides a person in Africa with an eye test and a pair of glasses. Such a small amount to most people, but with a life changing impact.
“ We took the decision to collect spectacles, for World Sight Day, and contacted law firms across the South West, including our clients, to ask whether they would be happy to participate. We were overwhelmed by the positive response,
FIG STICKS TO THE COMMUNITY DONATING OFFICE SPACE TO LOCAL CHARITY
Swindon’ s new serviced office provider Fig Offices has generously donated office space at its 3 Newbridge Square Centre in the heart of Swindon, to children’ s hospice, Jessie May Trust.
Jessie May is a children’ s hospice at home, caring for local terminally ill children. Jessie May nurses provide vital respite care, emotional support, end of life care and bereavement support, alongside family events that help create treasured memories. 2017 marks 21 years of the hospice, which is currently the Mayor of Swindon’ s charity of the year.
The specialist Jessie May nurses moved in to the brand new office space in Fig www. jessiemay. org. uk www. figoffices. co. uk
Offices at the end of November. They are enjoying an office in one of the centre’ s 50 individual spaces, which are split over two newly refurbished floors in the eightstorey building formerly known as the Tri Centre 3. In all, Fig is providing 16,000 sq ft of modern serviced office space to the Swindon market.
Kristina Granat, Fig’ s Swindon Centre Manager said:“ When we opened for business this Autumn, we wanted to do something tangible for a deserving local charity and found that the Jessie May Trust needed some central office space. We had heard of their reputation as a muchloved local children’ s hospice at home and
Are you looking for a 2018 challenge? Join People against Poverty in running the Bath Half
@ elaineconnorPSG
www. psgconnect. co. uk www. visionaidoverseas. org
with around 20 law firms from Swindon to Plymouth collecting over 500 pairs of spectacles between them. The campaign has been a great success and we want to thank all of those who donated for their generosity.”
The glasses donated to VAO are hand sorted and then some specs are recycled for precious metals, whilst others are cleaned and sold on the charity’ s EBay shop or to specialist dealers.
Sarah Namusobya, senior fundraising officer at Vision Aid Overseas, added:“ We are incredibly grateful to PSG for supporting Vision Aid Overseas through our recycling scheme. As many of you may know, Vision Aid Overseas no longer sends used glasses
thought we could donate a new space for them to operate from, helping them to concentrate on their fundraising activities. We are all really delighted to welcome them as the first of many new occupiers at our Fig Swindon centre.”
Debbie Clark of the Jessie May Trust added:“ This is a great move for us thanks to Mayor Maureen Penny who helped us to secure such amazing office space. We also cannot thank Kristina and her team enough for their help and support throughout. To be in the heart of Swindon makes a huge difference to us and the ability to really be part of the town’ s business and professional community who also support us too.”
overseas but recycles them to generate income that helps us build a sustainable eye care system in our partner countries across Africa and this enables anyone, regardless of circumstance, to access affordable eye care and new prescription glasses.”
Specsavers collects unwanted glasses, on behalf of Vision Aid Overseas and then sends them to the charity’ s warehouse in Crawley.
The Fig Offices and Jessie May teams
Fig Offices selected Swindon for its first Serviced Office Centre in a new business venture with FI Real Estate Management who manage 3 Newbridge Square, one of Swindon’ s best-known office addresses.
The Wiltshire-based charity People Against Poverty( PaP) is offering a place on one of their Awareness Trips to Romania for anyone who raises over £ 1,500 and joins them as a runner in the Bath Half Marathon. These trips are led by the charity’ s CEO Val Huxley and are a fantastic opportunity to explore a different culture and witness firsthand the positive impact of your fundraising. PaP has seven remaining marathon places, but is also looking for runners with existing places who would like to make the race count in more ways than one and fundraise for them.
People Against Poverty funds humanitarian work around the world, enabling those living in desperate poverty to reach a state of self-sustainability. Some of their work includes providing medical care, legal assistance and education in countries such as Haiti, Nepal and Romania. In the past year alone, PaP has provided assistance in 45 court cases, nearly 40,000 hot meals to malnourished children and almost 2,000 food parcels.
They have also continued to develop a micro-farm they founded in an area devastated by the collapse of local farming communes. Last year those who chose to run for PaP raised a total of £ 1,875, an achievement which has made an incredible difference to the lives of those in need.
To secure your place, please raise a minimum of £ 200 in sponsorship and contact PaP through their website www. peopleagainstpoverty. com by the January 25, 2018. The race itself takes place on March 4, 2018 at 11.00am.
@ PeepsAgainstPov
48 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017