Chester Race Company staff give 1,000 hours of support to 10 local charities

More than 125 Chester Race Company employees have successfully completed their ‘Project 1000’ for the second year running. The initiative, involving a partnership with Chester Voluntary Action, is aimed at improving lives in the local community, and over 1,000 hours of resource and expertise were donated to good causes.

The nominated charities range from children’s services, mental health support and a foodbank, among others. Each cause presented a different challenge, as explained by Chester’s Charity Coordinator Jeannie Chantler: “We implemented a corporate social responsibility strategy in 2016 and this year, we were keen to progress and make improvements from learnings over the previous two years. The company thoroughly enjoyed assisting across a variety of areas and hope that the time given demonstrates our commitment to helping our local community and their charities.”

Speaking on behalf of one beneficiary, Jocelyn Horton from Save The Family, said: “The employees who came to the Save the Family site as part of Project 1000 helped to create much-needed footpaths in our kitchen garden. These footpaths are vital for protecting the quality of the soil to cultivate a wide range of vegetables and fruit all used by our resident families. We always look forward to working with staff from Chester and Bangor-on-Dee racecourses because they work hard and do every task to a really high standard – we couldn’t ask for better!”

Chester’s catering division, Horseradish, were deployed to assist at the West Cheshire Food Bank where they helped to organize and sort donations, before delivering to those in need.

A centre for the deaf in Northwich benefited from a much-needed facelift and a new entrance ramp. Gill Reeder, executive operations for Deafness Support Network – the charity which operates services for the deaf community across Cheshire – commented on the improved accessibility achieved through gaining volunteering support from maintenance staff. “This has really opened up the frontage and we’re thrilled to have been supported by Chester Race Company – their work has been tremendous.”

The commitment from Chester Race Company has not only benefited the charities but has had a positive impact on the volunteers, too. Many have been inspired to continue to volunteer their spare time with their allocated charities.

“The project has really engaged our workforce into supporting local charities, and as such many of our staff have now developed working relationships with those charities resulting in a further commitment of their personal time,” said Mark Wilcockson, Head of HR and Project 1000 coordinator. “The project has been both rewarding and fun for all involved, and our employees have gained a real sense of satisfaction through completing this programme. We aim to continue to support local charities and commit our time and resources to grow project 1000.”