Graduates raise over £20,000 for charity
Skydives, mud runs and launching a pop-up restaurant are just some of the exciting challenges the graduates of Compass Group UK & Ireland, the UK’s largest catering firm, took part in to raise over £20,000 for charity.
The 2014 intake of graduates from across the company were separated into four groups for the £400 to £4k challenge.
As part of the challenge, each group was set a task of turning £400 into £4,000 for charity through planning and organising their own projects within a year.
Altogether, the four groups managed to raise an impressive £20,422 from scratch, as the activities they undertook didn’t require any upfront funds.
One of the graduates Emma Ridges, who works as a Support Services Manager at Medirest, was part of the team that worked with charity 2nd Chance UK, an ‘education to employment’ training course created to support unemployed 18-24 year olds.
Together, they launched a pop-up restaurant in August and May. They raised a total of £7148.
She said: “It was great to take part in this project, not only because we raised over £7,000 for charity but it was very fulfilling to know that the associates from the charity got so much out of taking part in the event.
“We helped run the pop-up restaurant over a four night period. It was nerve-wracking but the overall outcome was amazing.”
A number of the associates from the charity who carried out work experience during the event have since been employed by Compass Group UK & Ireland.
Graduate Amy Harris was part of a team that raised £6884 through various projects.
Amy, who works as a HR Support coordinator, raised over £800 by taking part in a 10k Birmingham run.
She said: “I had a hip operation at Birmingham Children’s Hospital when I was younger, so I wanted to give something back as it is such an amazing hospital.
“I’m very happy with how much the group raised overall as we’re all from different divisions in the company, which made it more challenging to work together as a team, but we got a great result in the end.”
Various charities benefitted from the project including Cancer Research UK and 2nd Chance UK.
Gary Nice, Early Career and Graduate Programme Manager, said: “It has been great to see our graduates raise over £20,000 for a number of different charities.
Corporate Social Responsibility is at the core of Compass Group’s work and as a large organisation we are conscious of the impact we can make.
Therefore, we set our graduates these challenges each year, as it not only helps them to learn about social responsibility but also builds their confidence as they have to work in teams with different people across the business. We hope that the value of social responsibility will remain with them throughout their careers.
“The Compass Grads 2015 cohort have been set the same challenge and we are looking forward to seeing what they achieve and how”.
Compass Group UK & Ireland employ approximately 30 graduates a year. The company is currently accepting applications for the 2016 intake now at jobsatcompass.co.uk
Applications close on the 19th of June and graduates start on the 3rd of October.
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For more information contact:
UK Communications Team
Compass Group UK & Ireland
Uk.communications@compass-group.co.uk
01895 554 999
