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Mental ‘elf’ comes first

8 days ago

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Over the festive period Sodexo colleagues came together to support charitable activities. From reverse Advent Calendars with The Trussell Trust, virtual raffles, food donations and more, hundreds of you have and continue to support good causes even after an extremely difficult year.

On the back of three BIG Sodexo Quizzes last year, the Diageo contract team wanted to continue their own run of successful fundraising activities with Festive 5 - a regional festive Stop Hunger fundraiser that puts mental ‘elf’ in the spotlight.

To take part in Festive 5, you had to safely run / walk / dance / skip 5 km, donate £/€5 to Stop Hunger where possible and nominate 5 colleagues to do the same – simple right!

Sam Scott

Pictured: Sam Scott, MD Corporate Services, during his Festive 5 km

With the support of all those who took part, and of course those who donated, Festive 5 has raised more than £2,700 for the Stop Hunger Foundation. These funds will be used to support the most vulnerable in our local communities via Stop Hunger’s charity partners. Check out the photos above showing just some of those who took part.

Joanna Watt, Account Communications Manager for the Diageo contract, comments: “We’re absolutely blown away by the amount raised by our colleagues across the UK and Ireland. Everyone has felt the pandemics pinch in some way, so to still raise this amount for Stop Hunger is incredible and very humbling.

“It has been so heart-warming to see photos and hear stories of colleagues who’ve been there for each other as they took part in Festive 5 together. This initiative relied on individual and team self-motivation at the end of a very challenging year, and we couldn’t be prouder.”

Jo Watt

Pictured: Jo taking part in Festive 5

If you’d like to contribute to the amazing Festive 5 fundraising-pot, please click here, however you’ll have to be quick as donations close this week on 15 January 2021.

As incentive to get everyone moving, three Festive 5 prizes were also up for grabs. We can reveal the winners of these prizes are:

Top fundraisers - the Johnson Matthey Royston team who helped raise over £1,500!
Best time - Aaron Cranfield from Brand & Communications with a time of 27 minutes and 23 seconds.
Best costume - Daryl a.k.a. ‘The Grinch’, son of Kathleen Kew from Sodexo’s BAE contract.
Festive Spirit - Schools & Universities sales team and the ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ for getting together remotely, wrapping up warm and having a socially distanced chat.

The Grinch and co

Pictured: Daryl a.k.a. ‘The Grinch’, son of Kathleen Kew from Sodexo’s BAE contract and other Festive 5 particpants

The prize winners will be contacted shortly to arrange delivery of their prizes. Congratulations to all three winners!

Thank you to everyone who took part and donated for Festive 5 – you showed up when your mental ‘elf’ needed you.

Sean Haley

Pictured: Sean Haley, Region Chair for Sodexo UK & Ireland, completing his Festive 5

At Sodexo we know that your mental health and wellbeing has never been more important, which is why we offer multiple ways to support you and your families when you need it most. Find out how Sodexo can support you here.

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