We were delighted to support the CCP Summer Activity appeal for the second year running, it’s has been a fantastic opportunity to help make a difference to families in our community and to continue to support our charity friends.
While Officeworx may not have the resources of a large corporation to donate substantial sums of money to charities, we are committed to finding innovative ways to make a meaningful impact. It has been a rewarding experience for Officeworx to see the impact we can make by volunteering our time, skill set, utilising our industry connections, and offering donations.
We assisted the Summer Activity appeal in multiple ways this year:
Firstly, we helped source some cool drawstring bags to put all the summer activity products inside. Kate selected a range of sample bags, but together we decided to use a white bag for the appeal. We printed the outline of the appeal logo onto a white drawstring bag, so the children could make them their own by colouring the logo and personalising their bag. Kate said: ‘By choosing a one-colour print for the bags, we were able to source the bags at a cheaper unit rate instead of a full-colour print job. It also allows the bags to be a creative activity for the children receiving them, they can add colour to the logo in their creative way’.
We used our strong connections with stationery, education, and creative play suppliers, enabling us to secure products at highly competitive prices to help source the correct products for the summer bags. From felt tip pens, sketch pads and crayons to fidget toys, puzzles and teddy bears we have been able to source a wide range of products for CCP. We received multiple boxes of supplies at the Officeworx warehouse which we delivered to the CCP office in two van trips in preparation for the packing team.
Finally, Katie was able to source a fantastic range of story books for the bags at highly competitive prices, beating the RRP/online prices of the specific book titles. Katie loves reading and recognises the importance of having books. With her book passion, she felt it was essential for the children receiving the activity bags to receive a good quality book alongside stationery, crafts, and outdoor toys. Officeworx kindly donated 200 books to the appeals from well-known authors, David Williams, Tom Gates, Dave Pilkey, David Baddiel and of course Craig Smith the YouTube famous author of ‘The Wonky Donkey’ book to the appeal.
Katie said: ‘This year’s appeal has been extra special as we have yet again been able to utilise our skills and supplier contacts at Officeworx to allow CCP to reach as many families as possible. At the start of the appeal, we believed the budget would only cover approx. 100 bags, but thanks to donations and buying smart we were able to help create over 250 bags. Rich and his team have created a life-line for many families in our community and it’s been a pleasure to be involved.’’
The summer activity bags will ensure that Gloucestershire’s children have a fun summer break and will help remove the stress and financial burden of entertaining their children over the 6-week break from school.
Find out more about the wonderful work CCP offer to our community by visiting: https://www.ccp.org.uk/