As part of Arcus’ CSR pledge, all staff members receive one day a year to volunteer for a charity of their choice. Joanne, in our Liverpool office, chose to spend hers helping the Halle O’Brien CIC by volunteering at Halle’s Hub.
Christmas is their busiest time of the year for the Halle’s Hub as they plan activities for the local children, send them to the panto, elf at the plaza cinema and creating Christmas hampers and other experiences for the children and their families.
Jo has been helping for several months to get everything ready for Halle’s Hub 2nd Regifting Sale, which is one of their biggest fundraisers. Jo has been wrapping, cleaning, replacing batteries on toys and turning them into lovely new gifts to go to another child. She has also washed, ironed Christmas PJ’s and Jumpers.
The regifting sale not only raised £6256.35, it recycled tons of pre-loved items which would have gone into landfill. The funds raised will help so many children attend after school activities, extra lessons, and clubs which they would otherwise have been unable to. They will also support the Students Alone at Christmas Project.
Heather, Halle O’Brien CIC Founder, commented: “Jo is one of our super volunteers that helps us at the drop of a hat. Jo joined us around January 2022 and has been a solid reliable volunteer ever since. We run lots of fundraisers over the year and Jo always gives her time to help out whether that be manning one of our fundraiser stalls, picking items up to bring to our community hub or volunteering her time behind the scenes for the many preparations that need to be done. Jo also points us in the right direction if she notices any pots of funding for us to apply to and is a huge advocate for what we do. We look forward to her continued support and we will enjoy working with her for as long as she will have us.”
The Halle O’Brien CIC is a fund that has been set up by Heather, Halle’s mum and her family after losing Halle in 2019 to a rare type of meningitis. Halle was an English student at university at the time and had a real passion for learning and had many options for her future career. We believe that Halle’s love for learning through extra curriculum activities helped her to become the strong independent woman that she was to become and we feel that every child should be offered such opportunities. Our Mission is to inspire kids to grow.
We aim to help fund children’s academic and social development when families are struggling with the cost of extra school activities.
To encourage children to follow their chosen direction and natural ability without the lack of finances holding them back. The Halle O’Brien Community Interest Company is a non-profit organisation, were all donations go back into our local community.
To learn more about the work of the Halle O’Brien CIC, visit their website here.