This year we raised £15,000 for Maggies Cancer Support
We work with local charities and engage positively with the local community to provide support, financial donations and gifted products. During lockdown we provided local young carers with tablets to aid their education and socialisation.
This year we raised £15,000 for Maggies Cancer Support
We aim to recruit local and develop local talent
We support young people in the community with their home learning
We have donated hundreds of home starter packs
We create starter packs for vulnerable people in the community, filled with household essentials such as kettles, toasters and cookware. These help people fleeing unsafe environments and make it easier to start out a new life.
We wish to positively boost the local economy by continuing to offer employment opportunities to those based within Oldham and surrounding areas. By developing relationships with local secondary schools, colleges and universities, we can build on our aim to recruit local and develop local talent. Our recent fourth floor renovation cost almost £2 million, over £1 million of which was spent on contractors based in the Oldham borough, providing a considerable boost to the local economy. The investment and refurbishment also increased the capacity of our HQ to 400 employees, further providing a brilliant opportunity for local people looking for work.
We offer support to charitable organisations that are integral to the local community, many of which have been specifically suggested by our employees as important causes to be involved with. Each year, we focus our donations and support on a key ‘company charity’, with our Charity Committee successfully raising money throughout the calendar year through a range of different initiatives. In 2021, we raised a record £15,000 for Maggie’s Oldham, who provide a supportive and reassuring environmental to cancer patients and their families.
Throughout the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, UP recognised that Oldham charities and local initiatives may face the ‘perfect storm’ of reduced funding, enforced closures, restrictions and an overall increased demand for their services. This meant we worked with several charities, including REEL CIC, Mahdlo, Regenda Homes, The Pankhurst Trust, Manchester Women’s Aid, Oldham Food Bank, Action Together, to identify what they needed most, and provided support to fulfil this demand. From buying pyjamas for deprived children for Christmas Eve, to sourcing formula milk for new Mums when shelves were bare, UP teams rallied and helped out. Throughout the pandemic, we have donated hundreds of starter packs filled with household consumer goods to enable abuse victims, deprived families and young people starting out, ensuring they can access key living essentials to give them the very best chance.
Positive Steps is a local charitable organisation that delivers a range of targeted and integrated services for young people, adults and families across our local community. They provide an integral support mechanism for the most vulnerable young people in the community who, during lockdown were unable to attend school or meet with their carers. We work with Positive Steps on three key schemes; donating household goods to be used for vulnerable families, donating mobile tablets to children enabling them to stay connected with carers and schoolwork and offering ongoing micro grants to enable young adults to access employment with essential equipment and clothing, or funding the cost of travel to work. We have funded 200 ‘Our Pass’ tickets, allowing young people to get to college/ higher education for free throughout the year.
