Many small charities like The CRUMBS Project (Crumbs) are reliant upon the support of organisations, big and small, to help them to adapt and evolve to best support beneficiaries. Through corporate volunteering programmes, people who have busy workloads or want to experience the voluntary or community sector can get involved in opportunities by working with charities on community projects.
The B&Q Foundation is working to help to create better, safer places for the people in our communities who need them most. The Foundation supports UK charities with a combination of grants, volunteering time, and home improvement resources.
Connecting through the Neighbourly giving platform, that introduces and enables businesses to work with small community based charities, in 2022 the B&Q Foundation provided a grant to help create a Community Kitchen Garden outside Crumbs’ training centre in Bournemouth. This initiative aims to encourage the disadvantaged adults the disability training charity work with to learn and gain confidence in growing their own produce in a wildlife-friendly fashion, as well as broaden their awareness and education of horticulture.
In January 2023, a team of volunteers from the B&Q Head Office in Chandlers Ford visited Crumbs’ training centre in Bournemouth to help staff and trainees prepare the Community Kitchen Garden for the 2023 growing season.
Working together on a cold but bright day, the team cleared and prepared raised beds for planting, cut back hedges, and prepared a wall space ready for a new art mural to be placed later in the year. The volunteers also provided a number of home improvement items to use in the Community Kitchen Garden.
B&Q volunteers then joined Crumbs’ trainees and staff for a very much welcomed warm meal prepared by trainees in the CRUMBS’ training centre kitchens.
Jo Curtis, B&Q Community Manager said:
“It’s great to see B&Q colleague volunteers having such a positive impact on a fantastic charity. “Crumbs has a lasting impact on the people it supports and we’re only too happy to make it easier for them to carry on that great work.”
Robin Queripel, B&Q Customer Insights Manager said:
“Those of us from B&Q who spent time at Crumbs had a fantastic morning with the team, helping prepare their community garden for the coming growing season. It also gave us the opportunity to learn so much about the trainees and the challenges they face.”
Lee Whalley, Crumbs’ Head of Operations said:
“Support from organisations like B&Q is so helpful to Crumbs’ work, not only through the generosity of grants but also through providing support and resources towards really giving our projects a boost. When volunteers from organisations like B&Q interact with Crumbs they can experience the sights, smells, and environment here and gain a real understanding about what our charity is about and how we are working to make a difference to our community.”
