Emanuel Whittaker selection boxes help families in need this Christmas
Dec 16, 2013
Emanuel Whittaker has been playing Santa this week. The company’s employees have been asked to support the Your Manchester Challenge, a scheme being organised by social housing provider Your Housing Group to prepare and deliver 1250 seasonal gift packs to residents across the Greater Manchester area.
Clive Newton Managing Director for Emanuel Whittaker said: “We work with Your Housing Group as part of the Procure Plus Framework across several of its housing estates and we really liked the idea of the Challenge. We appealed to our head office staff and everyone working across our North West sites to get involved and as usual, our staff have been very generous.
“Even sub-contractors such as M&R Heating joined the campaign.”
The Your Manchester Challenge seasonal gift pack will be suitable for up to four people and contain no fewer than eight items – four of which will be food related. The packs will be delivered to people who are living in difficult financial circumstances.
Emanuel Whittaker work with social housing organisations across the region and recognise how people on low incomes are struggling to cope with bills, particularly at Christmas. “The high price of energy in particular is having an impact on household incomes,” said Clive. “Some residents have to decide whether to heat or eat and so the gift packs will provide some help – plus it’s always nice to receive an unexpected gift at this time of year.”
The Trussel Trust, a charity that works with local communities to combat poverty reports that 13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK and everyday people go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. As a result, there has been a 170% rise in numbers turning to food banks in the last 12 months.
Emanuel Whittaker staff have now delivered over 250 selection boxes to Your Housing Group who will add them to their seasonal gift packs. Zoe Hampson from the housing association said: “We launched the challenge after our team saw first-hand the extent of food poverty affecting some residents in the region.
“Since September the local teams across Manchester have been working tirelessly to raise money and work with partners like Emanuel Whittaker to gather donations in order to achieve our target. The generosity of Emanuel Whittaker and their sub-contractors will certainly help.”
Support the Challenge on Twitter @Mcr_Challenge and “like” it on Facebook: Your Mcr Challenge
Residents get an extra helping hand during Property Maintenance Week
Nov 27, 2013Emanuel Whittaker has been using National Property Maintenance Week as the perfect excuse to carry out numerous small jobs for residents and provide general property advice.
Contracts Director John Gallagher said: “We are already renowned for our customer service and we thought we would really push the boat out during Property Maintenance Week. Our on site teams have responded very generously to our appeal to help out residents in need.”
The company’s teams team carried out dozens of jobs such as re-hanging an internal door for a Rochdale Boroughwide Housing resident, putting up new window blinds for a City West Housing resident, re-setting a Salix Homes resident’s boiler, hanging winter flower baskets for a Contour Homes resident and a challenge for a Your Housing Group tenant which involved a whole team across several hours.
John said: “Mrs Hannah Igo is 84 and has arthritis which greatly affects her mobility. Her husband who looked after the garden died 10 years ago however, the decking and gazebo which he had built had fallen into such a state of disrepair it had become too dangerous to walk on.
“Mrs Igo casually mentioned to the team how she avoided going into the garden because of the slippery decking and so a team completely removed the decking and gazebo frame to provide her with safe access to the garden again.
“Needless to say Mrs Igo was absolutely thrilled with our team’s good deed and was really moved by the fact we had taken the time to do it.”
In addition to the practical jobs, Emanuel Whittaker staff also provided advice on common winter weather problems such as condensation and locating the stoptap in case of frozen pipes.
John adds: “It was good to help out so many residents and we also reminded them about property maintenance issues that were their own, rather than their landlord’s responsibility. The feedback we received from residents were great and everyone involved feels a great sense of satisfaction.”
Salix Homes residents raise a cup to refurbished homes
Nov 6, 2013
Residents living in sheltered accommodation are celebrating the completion of major improvement works at their homes.
For the past six months, we have been working with Salix Homes to overhaul 45 homes at the Broomedge sheltered housing complex in Broughton, Salford.
The £500,000 improvement scheme has seen 29 homes in the main building and a further 16 cottage flats overhauled to bring them up to the government’s Decent Homes standard. The flats, which were built during the 1960s and cater for elderly residents, have been completely rewired and fitted with new kitchens, bathroom and doors. The communal lounge was also given a makeover and the laundry room has been refurbished.
Externally, the main building has been cladded to give it a fresh, new look and the old roof has been replaced. Green-fingered residents also lent a hand to makeover the communal gardens planting new plants and trees including a ‘Salix’ tree in honour of Salix Homes.
Residents Carole and Charles Wood are thrilled with their new-look home. Carole said: “I feel like I have been given a new lease of life, everything is now practical and simple. We are so delighted and proud of our new kitchen and bathroom.”
Salford-based housing provider Salix Homes was recently named by Salford Council as the chosen landlord to take ownership of the 8,500 council homes in Salford they currently manage in a proposed stock transfer.
This latest regeneration work forms part of a wider multi-million pound home improvement programme across Salford and the housing provider is promising to invest a further £700 million over the next 30 years if the stock transfer goes ahead.
Joe Willis, chief executive at Salix Homes, said: “Salix Homes is committed to improving homes and communities in Salford now and into the future and we’ve been delighted to work alongside our contractors Emanuel Whittaker to bring a new lease of life to these homes which were in dire need of upgrading.
“This investment has made an enormous difference to our tenants’ quality of life and we are proud to be able to provide them with modern and desirable homes which are comfortable and economical to run.
“We appreciate the patience of our tenants during the refurbishment work, but we know they are as pleased as we are with the results, which is testament to all the hard work that’s been put in.”
As the majority of the tenants are elderly, Salix Homes and Emanuel Whittaker have worked closely with residents to ensure minimum disruption.
Paul Robinson, site manager at Emanuel Whittaker, said: “The majority of tenants living here have benefited not only from work on their own individual flats but also from improvements to the communal areas.
“As many tenants are elderly and some quite frail we have been very careful to ensure that we worked closely with them or their families to keep stress levels to a minimum and with satisfaction levels running at 100%, I think we can confidently say we have succeeded.”
Mike Copple, chairman of the Broomedge Residents Association, has been impressed with the standard of service. He said: “Emanuel Whittaker staff have gone more than the extra mile in ensuring as far as possible that inconvenience to the residents was minimised and where issues arose they were dealt with in a caring and sensitive manner.”
To celebrate the end of work, residents enjoyed a tea party in their new and improved communal lounge.
Garry Holt, resident liaison officer with Emanuel Whittaker added: “The tenants are a great bunch and we will be sorry to leave. The tea party is our way of saying thanks for having us. It’s been lovely to see so many people turn up to say goodbye.”
Emanuel Whittaker staff raise £1,000 a month, every month for a year
Aug 29, 2013
After a year of exhausting and imaginative fund-raising to celebrate its 175th anniversary, staff at Emanuel Whittaker have announced the total money raised in the period was £12,009.17. That equates to a thousand pounds a month, every month for a year!
Clive Newton, Managing Director said: “With so many activities going on it has taken a while to get all the money in, but we are thrilled with the final count. Our staff, clients, sub-contractors and friends and family have been incredibly generous and it’s been genuinely lovely to meet some of the people at The Christie Charity and Dr Kershaw’s hospice who will benefit from the money.”
To raise the cash Emanuel Whittaker staff were split into teams who between them all developed a vast array of fundraising initiatives including a car wash, making and selling handmade garden furniture and kitchen equipment, a sponsored weight loss, a sponsored silence, various sponsored walks, a bungee jump and a meditation evening as well as various sporting events including; football, cricket and golf.
The monies are to be divided between the two charities and the company has asked that The Christie funds are directed to the Young Oncology and Haematology and Transplant Unit.
“Emanuel Whittaker has invested a lot of effort into developing young people through our apprenticeship programme and we work with local schools and colleges to encourage young people into construction,” explains Clive Newton. “As a result of this relationship with young people we wanted to do something that specifically benefits them.”
The Christie currently has two specialist services, in need of refurbishment, however it has identified that it can deliver even greater results if the services are integrated, especially as approximately 50% of young cancer patients will have a haematological cancer (blood cancer). The Christie charity is therefore hoping to raise just over £10 million to build a new integrated treatment centre to replace the existing Young Oncology Unit (YOU) and Haematology and Transplant Unit (HTU).
Natalie Pike, Corporate Development Manager at The Christie Charity said: ‘Everyone at The Christie is so grateful for the amazing support of Emanuel Whittaker, their staff and customers. The wonderful donation will be going towards our new Young Oncology Unit, which will help enable us to build a new world-class treatment centre for teenage cancer patents. The unit should be complete early next year and we will be inviting everyone who contributed to the opening ceremony.”
Over fifty per cent of the funds will be given to Oldham’s hospice. Dr Kershaw’s needs nearly £5,000 every day to be able to continue to operate its specialist services and maintain the outstanding standard of care. Fundraiser Lisa Pearson said: “We were so thrilled and proud be chosen as one of the nominated charities for Emanuel Whittaker’s anniversary fundraising year. As a local charity it is important for us to build and maintain links within our local community and Emanuel Whittaker’s approach to fundraising meant that we had plenty of opportunities to work with staff and suppliers.
“Dr Kershaw’s Hospice is extremely grateful for the company’s support, it costs over £1.75 million to run the hospice each year and the lion’s share of that funding comes from local companies, community groups and businesses. Without the support of people within our community we could not provide the vital services we do.”
Emanuel Whittaker’s 175th anniversary celebrations have now concluded, however, many staff have enjoyed their fund-raising activities so much they intend to continue helping their favourite charities.
Director John Gallagher said: “Where possible the company will continue to support staff in their efforts to raise money for good causes through either financial or practical support.
“We had no idea how much we could raise in 12 months and everyone involved has been staggered by the generosity of all our supporters. We want to pass on our congratulations and thanks to all those involved.”
Tottington duo help mend broken hearts
Aug 19, 2013
With support from his partner, Lead Resident Liaison Officer at Emanuel Whittaker, Adam Berry, the two Tottington men set about raising money to support The British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) ” Mending Broken Hearts Appeal” which is raising awareness of heart failure and taking steps to find a cure through stem cell research.
Recently, with the help and support of friends and Adam’s colleagues at Emanuel Whittaker including Site Managers Mark Healey and Ian MCcune and Resident Liaison Officer Louise Langford a group of 16 took part in The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge. This gruelling walk takes in the peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, usually in this order, and the challenge is to complete is under 12 hours!
Emanuel Whittaker sponsored the walk by providing £200 which was used to buy t-shirts and supplies to keep the team going and The Events Service helped organise the day. The team were also supported by R A Sidebottom Roofing Ltd, who donated £100.
Adam said: “Most of our team were raising cash for BHF but one was raising cash for Verity, a charity for women suffering from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and another for the MS Trust. It was very hard going, blisters were a common theme but there was also lots of fun and games.
“I don’t think anything can really prepare you for the walk; you go through a whole range of emotions, from feeling like you can’t take another step to laughing out loud when somebody falls in a boggy patch.”
The team all agree they could not have completed the walk without the help of a support team which included Shaun and which gave the walkers lots of support and encouragement. All the walkers completed the challenge within the 12 hour time frame and in collaboration with other fundraisers for the Mending Broken Hearts Appeal, have raised £1271.05
Rukhsana Nabi from Emanuel Whittaker said: “We are very proud of the staff that completed this walk. The company is always happy to support its employees where possible and the team have raised a fantastic amount of money.”
You can still donate to the charity by clicking on this link http://www.justgiving.com/Adam-Berry1