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Latest News › Charity
Since our first store opened almost 80 years ago our contribution and support for local communities has grown and strengthened year on year.
We have been active in helping to boost local economies and have played our part in helping to enhance the vitality of neighbourhoods by maintaining a reassuring, welcoming presence in towns and cities, creating jobs and employing local people.
Helping People Achieve and Reach their Potential
We have one uniting theme that links our community programme to our company and our brand values.
Today we work closely with organisations that make a difference in your local community because they help people like you to achieve and make the most of your life and help you to reach your true potential.
We will only make donations to organisations and individuals that fulfil this aim.
Our Corporate Partners are national charities with the ability to touch the lives of thousands of needy beneficiaries in the communities close to your store.
Our team members and customers up and down the country enthusiastically fund raise to support national and Corporate Partner campaigns and annually we collect in excess of £250,000 for a wide variety of causes. In addition, we match £ for £ the fundraising efforts of our team members through our Local Stars scheme.
Your local Wilkinson store is responsible for its own Helping Hands Fund community budget and makes its own decisions about where and how that money should be spent.
Each year our customers nominate Wilkinson Local Stars, people from your local community, who have winning qualities that we can support and reward by giving them that little extra.
We will only make donations to organisations through the Helping Hands Fund and to individuals through the Wilkinson Local Stars scheme. Each of these initiatives is supported locally through your Wilkinson store.
Application forms are available from your local store and once completed, should be returned to one of our team members at your local Wilkinson store's Help Desk.
Please do not write to us at Head Office seeking support. We will not respond to letters that seek sponsorship or financial support other than through our approved channels.
If you wish to apply to us for a donation, then forms for the Helping Hands Fund and the Wilkinson Local Stars scheme are available from your local Wilkinson store.
We will only respond to donation requests received on the Helping Hands Fund and the Wilkinson Local Stars application forms.
Our Corporate Partners
We have long-term relationships with four charities whose values closely match our own. Their beneficiaries will be people who live in your community and are amongst the most needy in society. You may already know someone who has been touched by some of the powerful work they are involved in and benefited enormously from their help and support.
So who are the charities we will be supporting?
Who are Children's Hospices UK?
Being told your child will die before you do is every parent's worst nightmare. But that nightmare is a reality for an estimated 25,000 families across the UK. Children's hospice services are there to help children, young people and their families in these situations to deal with the emotional and physical challenges they face and to make the most of life. They welcome the whole family for a break in friendly, homely surroundings and provide practical help in people's own homes.
Children's Hospices UK is the national charity that gives voice and support to all children's hospice services. It is their vision for every child and young person who is not expected to reach adulthood and their family to have access to the highest standards of care and support close to home. The charity brings together over 40 children's hospices across the country. Their work includes: care development, awareness raising, fundraising and campaigning and lobbying..
The children that hospices care for suffer from conditions such as cancer, heart disease, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and a range of other illnesses across 17 disease groups. Some of these children will die when they are very young; others will deteriorate slowly over a number of years.
Children's hospices offer a wide range of services including specialist care, 24-hour telephone support, advice, information and bereavement support for all family members. The nurses and healthcare professionals who make up the care team play a vital role in providing this support. The money your store raises will be allocated to the cost of nursing care at your local children's hospice - supporting the direct delivery of care to children and families in your community.
"When we took Dean to Little Havens Children's Hospice, we didn't expect to see him out of bed again, but because of the care of the staff there, he was able to do so many things. It was a home from home for him, he was able to go swimming and be out in the garden - it's a place that makes memories. Every penny you raise does make a difference. Thank you." Sharon (Dean's Mum)
To find out more about Children's Hospice UK visit Children's Hospice UK Website
Every 21 minutes, someone is diagnosed with leukaemia or another blood illness. And in many cases, their survival relies on a bone marrow transplant. The Anthony Nolan Trust is the only charity that matches leukaemia patients with donors - giving more people a better chance of living longer, healthier lives.
Leukaemia is the biggest cause of death in children in the UK, but it can affect anyone at any time - regardless of age, race or sex. The Anthony Nolan Trust encourages people aged 18-40 to join their register as bone marrow donors. By giving just a small amount of their bone marrow, they could save the life of a child or adult.
At the moment, there are 390,000 people on The Anthony Nolan Trust bone marrow register. And in 2008, donors like these helped to save the lives of two people every single day.
Our donations and fundraising activities will them save even more, by setting up clinics across the UK, where anyone can go and become a donor.
The Anthony Nolan Trust is one of the four charities we'll be supporting between now and 2012. They'll receive a lump some of between £35,000 and £50,000 every year between now and then to invest in specific projects. And in 2010 they'll be our charity of the year - so we'll be asking you to get behind them with all kinds of fundraising activities.
"I contacted the Anthony Nolan Trust because we were told that a bone marrow donation was the only option. Neither myself, my husband or Georgia's brother were a match, but we were lucky - The Anthony Nolan Trust found someone. The feeling when they said they had a match was out of this world. Georgia had the transplant in April 2007, and today she's doing well."
Debbie Cocking, Georgia's Mum.
To find out more about The Anthony Trust, visit The Anthony Nolan Trust Website
After they merge with Help the Aged, Age Concern will be the largest UK charity working with and for vulnerable older people, providing essential community services including lunch clubs, befriending schemes and much more -
Almost 1 in 5 of the UK's population are pensioners, which means there are now more people over the age of 65 than there are under 16. Age Concern and Help the Aged are the UK's largest provider of services for people over 50 - touching the lives of over 327,000 older people every week.
Both charities provide a vast range of services, depending on what's needed in a particular area. So from subsidised transport to day centres, training schemes to counselling, there'll be plenty of projects that Wilkinson can help with near your store.
This includes the handy person scheme, which enables older people to remain independent for as long as they can by helping them out with everyday tasks. The scheme includes all of these jobs - as you'll see they're all just the kind of thing our products could help with!
- Moving furniture
- Changing/washing curtains
- Installing doorbells
- Changing light bulbs
- Fixing leaking taps
- Home security
- Assembling flat-packed furniture
- Fitting handrails
- Gardening
Age Concern is one of the four charities we're supporting over the next four years. They'll be our charity of the year in 2011, when we'll be asking you to get behind them by taking part in lots of different fundraising events. We'll also be giving them between £35,000 and £50,000 every year until 2012 to invest in ongoing activities and projects.
"As I suffer from anxiety it's not easy for me to ask for help, but I found I could be confident with him (the handy person) in my home! Things that are part of everyday life for other people are big problems for me, and I appreciate the service and the staff you have who are very special people."
Mrs O, Clapham, London
To find out more about Help the Aged visit Help the Aged & Age Concern Website
Home-Start is the UK's leading family support charity. Their network of trained parent volunteers supports thousands of troubled families all over the country, helping them to overcome their difficulties.
Through a combination of home visits, group support and social activities, Home-Start is there for young families facing challenges including post-natal illness, disability, isolation and bereavement. With a UK-wide network of staff and volunteers, they work in partnership with other local organisations in your community.
Families can ask Home-Start for help directly, or they might be refereed by a doctor, health visitor or another professional.
Research has already shown that Home-Start is working - empowering families who've become socially excluded to play more of an active role in their local communities. And with help from Wilkinson, Home-Start can continue to make a really positive impact in all of these ways:
- Reducing isolation and building support networks
- Strengthening parent/child relationships
- Improving parents' physical and emotional health and well being
- Helping parents appreciate the joys of parenting and improve their parenting skills
- Improving children's health, well being and development
- Help families to access health and community services
As one of the four charities we've chosen to support over the next four years, Home-Start will receive an annual lump some from Wilkinson of between £35,000 and £50,000, to invest in particular projects and activities. Then, in 2012, we'll be asking you to get involved in all kinds of additional fundraising activities to raise money for Home-Start when they become our charity of the year.
"Home-Start's volunteers have been important people in my children's lives and have really helped in their development. They've helped them socialise with other children and adults, so now they can go out into the wider world with confidence."
(Louise, a mother of two suffering from post-natal illness.)
To find out more about Home Start UK visit Home Start UK Website
Fundraising in your Wilkinson store
Our team members will help you to raise money for our Charity of the Year and do your bit for worthy causes. Each year we will be creative and outrageous as we get behind one of our Corporate Partners and raise thousands for their needy beneficiaries from your community.
We also support three national campaigns and do all we can to help them, and you, in their fundraising efforts.
How Wilkinson can support you
Your local Wilkinson store is responsible for its own Helping Hands Fund community budget. It makes its own decisions about where and how that money should be spent through regular meetings of its store charity committee.
The committee will consider applications from organisations whose beneficiaries are young people, families and the elderly who live or work in the direct locality of your Wilkinson store. The committee will look favourably on those organisations that are able to show that funding will help people to achieve and reach their potential.
Are you involved in an organisation that desperately needs funds?
Perhaps you are not personally involved with an organisation, but maybe you have heard about a local group who is in need of help? If so, let them know that Wilkinson may be able to support them.
How to apply
- Pick up a Helping Hands Fund application form from your local Wilkinson store and tell us where funds are needed.
- The Helping Hands Fund application form is only available from your local Wilkinson store so pop in and pick one up today.
- Return your completed form to the Help Desk in your local Wilkinson store.
Team Member Fundraising
We support our own team members and will match £ for £ their own fundraising efforts through our Local Stars scheme.
Are you involved in an organisation that desperately needs funds?
Perhaps you are not personally involved with an organisation, but maybe you have heard about a local group who is in need of help? If so, let them know that Wilkinson may be able to support them.
Pick up a Helping Hands Fund application form from your local Wilkinson store and tell us where funds are needed. If your store cannot support you through the Helping Hands Fund, you might instead attract a team member to raise funds for you by doing such things as a sponsored walk or a sponsored run.
We will give up to £100 per application and up to £250 per application for the Charity of the Year of where the team member can show that their fundraising efforts fit the overall theme of helping people achieve and reach their potential.
How to apply
Pick up a Helping Hands Fund application form from your local Wilkinson store and tell us where funds are needed.
The Helping Hands Fund application form is only available from your local Wilkinson store so pop in and pick one up today.
Return your completed form to the Help Desk in your local Wilkinson store.
Each year our customers nominate Wilkinson Local Stars, people from your local community, who have winning qualities that we can support and reward by giving them a boost.
Your local store's charity committee will consider all the Wilkinson Local Stars nominations.
Open to all, Wilkinson Local Stars is a scheme that rewards 30 individuals annually from across the UK who receive up to £5,000 in sponsorship money.
This is a scheme that both helps and recognises life's achievers.
- Do you need help to reach your true potential?
- Have you already overcome barriers in your life?
- Are you already an inspiration and a role model to others?
Despite all your efforts in life you can often face barriers that prevent you from achieving your goals and you need some help to reach your true potential.
Through hard work, commitment and determination you can succeed and, despite all the odds, you can overcome these hurdles. You can achieve so much in your life that you can be an inspiration and a role model to others.
You can enter yourself or you may nominate someone you know in one of the three categories:
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Personal potential in sports, dance, music, theatre or a 'chance in a lifetime' activity
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Someone who has overcome personal difficulty
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Someone who has benefited others in their community
How to apply
Pick up a Wilkinson Local Stars application form from your local Wilkinson store and tell us about yourself or someone you know.
The Wilkinson Local Stars application form is only available from your local Wilkinson store so pop in and pick one up today.
Return your completed form to the Help Desk in your local Wilkinson store.
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