Category: CSR

Dear Supporters of the O’Brien charitable Trust

What a fantastic year 2021 has been for the O’Brien Charitable Trust, in fact the best year ever for fundraising! We have blown our target of £15,000.00 out of the water altogether, hitting the massive amount of £30,000.00 which is staggering.

We will therefore hit £45,000.00 once O’Brien Contractors £15,000.00 donation has been added.  Despite all the down beat vibes and fallout regarding the pandemic, those who work at O’Brien’s have taken the opposing view by pressing forward, recognising the needs of others stood up and have done something about it resulting in this exceptional outcome.

A massive well done and thank you to the committee members: Wayne Inskip, Vicki O’Brien, Dan Taylor, James Bilson, who have being the driving force throughout the year. Big thanks and congratulations to Stuart Chamberlain for his epic bike ride across England and Scotland which raised over £4,000.

We are also fortunate enough to have great relationships with our suppliers who have supported us in an unbelievable manner once again, as they do every year.

We are well on the way to making donations to a number of smaller charities and will be in a position to confirm those in January 22.

Looking forward to 2022 we already have our golf day booked at the Warwickshire for July, and we will be announcing other events in the new year.

Thank you to every single person who attended our events, donated prizes, sponsored events, donated money, shared our charity posts, we appreciate every single one of you!

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

O’Brien are very please to donate £4,000 from our 2019 fundraising to The Cyrenians Society, Coventry, who provide a fantastic service for homeless and vulnerable people.

Established in 1973, Cyrenians provide a comprehensive range of services to homeless and vulnerably housed people in Coventry and Warwickshire. Providing individualised support to promote and enhance the life chances of people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, and empower them to live as independently as possible.

The charity provides accommodation to the homeless people of Coventry and Warwickshire, providing more supported accommodation for single homeless adults than any other single agency in Coventry. They also provide considerable assistance in getting people back on the right path.

Services currently include the Coventry Supported Accommodation Service, Stratford Upon Avon Temporary Accommodation for Single Adults and Young Person’s Alcohol Intervention & Mediation Service. Providing nearly 200 units of accommodation within Coventry and Warwickshire for those in need.

• Over two thirds of the people they see are experiencing mental health challenges and more than one in five are     sleeping rough when we accommodate them.
• Over 90% of people leaving the Cyrenians service report improvements in one or more areas of their life.
• About one in five of their residents obtain paid employment by the time they move on from them, many benefiting from Cyrenians own employment and training opportunities.
• They generate 80% of income from accommodation charges but rely on public support and donations to enable us to continue their work.

A Cyrenian spokesman commented on the donation, “A sincere thank you for selecting us as one of your chosen charities for the foundation, we would be delighted to accept your donation and the amazing sum of money offered. I understand that you are one of our partners at Christmas time, where your organisation creates shoeboxes for the Christmas Appeal – it’s great to see that the relationship has developed into a financial donation.”

http://www.coventrycyrenians.co.uk/about

https://trust.obriencontractors.co.uk/

Today the O’Brien Charitable Trust Committee has presented the first donation from the monies raised in 2020, to the fantastic Freddie’s Wish Charity https://freddieswish.org/.

The Freddie’s Wish charity was set up by founder Charlotte Jolliffe whose son, 13 month old Freddie, was sadly taken in a tragic car accident in December 2014.

“Charlotte said: “Not long after I said my last goodbyes, I desperately wanted to seek help from other people that felt this intense emotional and physical pain I was feeling, but no one seemed to be willing to help me.”

Freddie’s Wish was set up with the aim to educate healthcare professionals and wider society in the importance of offering proactive support to bereaved parents to help them through the darkest of times.

Freddie’s wish formed a partnership with Child Bereavement UK https://www.childbereavementuk.org/ and also signpost bereaved relatives towards support that may be relevant to their specific circumstances or provide support to the family directly.

Freddie’s wish are also partnered with MDD First Aid http://www.mddfirstaid.co.uk/ to help fund first aid courses for parents/carers to give them the knowledge and skills to potentially save their child’s life.

“Sadly, Freddie ultimately lost his brave battle but the CPR administered by his Dad at the scene of the accident gave us all time to say our goodbye’s to him. This proves that doing something in an emergency first aid situation is always better than doing nothing!”

Charlotte said of the O’Brien Charitable Trust Donation:

“Thank you so much for offering a donation of £2,500 towards Freddie’s Wish, this is so incredibly generous and would make a huge difference to the charity.

In terms of how we would spend the £2.5k donation, we would wish to allocate it all towards the continued provision of free paediatric first aid sessions for anyone who looks after a child (parents, other relatives, friends, childminders etc.)

This contribution will help us to continue to provide free paediatric first aid awareness sessions throughout Warwickshire in conjunction with MDD First Aid .

So far, we have trained 650 people with essential paediatric first aid skills and the knowledge to be able to save their child’s life should they need to.

We are already fully booked until April with 2 courses running per month.

This funding could fully cover 7 paediatric first aid awareness courses at £360 per course, that would equate to approximately another 140 people being trained with vital skills for life.”

O’Brien were delighted to present a cheque for £4,000 to the Helping Hands Community Project this morning, as we continue to disburse the £30,000 raised in 2019 to good causes.

The Helping Hands Project is one which gets right to the heart of the community in Warwickshire, who work tirelessly to help the homeless and those less fortunate. This is a charity we have supported in previous years and we are delighted to donate to this great cause again this year.

HELPING HANDS COMMUNITY PROJECT

We believe
There is always hope for a better future
Everyone has a unique purpose
It feels good to do good
We’re in this with you for the whole journey
These are complex issues

The Helping Hands charity is all about local people helping local people in need. The charity gives people the support and opportunities to feel better about themselves, be more active in the community and get back into work.

Hand Up

The charity run a soup kitchen offering hot food and a listening ear. They like to give a hand up not just a handout through new skills, experience and qualifications.

House 2 Home Project

The volunteers for their ‘House 2 Home’ project support clients with goods, from fridges to furniture to recently homed and low-income families. People are referred to the charity by organisations like children’s centres, social services & domestic violence charities.

When people are re-homed, they are often given a place to stay but not all essentials like a fridge or bed. The generous community provides these goods that volunteers deliver to those who need it. This helps turn empty houses into homes!

Gateway Café

They run the Gateway Café where people can find a lovely welcome, and where they can enjoy coffee and cake to support the charity in helping people find a better future.

The Big Sleepout

The charity has organised the big sleep out for 5 years, with the latest taking place last month. ‘The Big Sleep Out’ helps the charity give the homeless and vulnerable adults in Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth the chance of a better future.

To find out more about the Helping Hands Project: https://www.helpinghandscharity.org.uk/our-story/

Helping Hands said of the donation:

“A HUGE thank you to O’Brien who have presented us with a cheque for £4,000 for the second year running following all their fantastic fundraising efforts throughout the year. Their support in helping us to make a difference to local people in need has been phenomenal.  Thank you

O’Brien have been proud shirt sponsors of Leamington RFC since 2013.

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/leamington/

Recent O’Brien Contractors Sponsorships for Individuals and Organisations (over £20,000 in the last 3 years).

• Ibstock United Juniors Football Club U9 Pumas: Sponsored Walk
• Northend Open Gardens Event (for the upkeep of the village hall)
• Long Itchington School Association Race Night
• KidSafe Road Safety Campaign Packs for Warwickshire Schools
• Sky Dive to raise money for ‘The Albion Foundation’
• Muddy Furlong 8km Obstacle Course for ‘Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice’
• Shoeboxes for the Homeless at Christmas – All office employees donated at least   one box each
• Shirt sponsors for Veseyans RC, charity game for RFU (Injured Players Foundation)   game against ‘The House of Lords Cricket Team’
• Mighty Macmillan Mighty Hike
• Leamington RFC

SMASHED IT! STAFF AT O’BRIEN CONTRACTORS RAISE ANOTHER £30,000 FOR CHARITY!

The staff at OBCL have repeated last years success and raised £15,000 from a series of organized events and challenges throughout 2018. Because the staff reached their target, O’Brien Contractors Limited generously matched the sum raised by staff, making a fabulous total of £30,000 for the O’Brien Charitable Trust good causes.

Events were organised throughout the year by our hard-working charity committee, made up of 7 members of staff, who work tirelessly throughout the year, organising events to raise much needed funds for our chosen charities. The events are enthusiastically supported by all staff and this year’s events, have included:Christmas Jumper Day – Which is very competitive!

Movember – Even the girls joined in with fake moustaches!
3 Peaks Challenge – Staff took to the hills!
Wolf Run – Staff got stuck in on the very wet and muddy course!
Charity Golf Day / Charity Auction – Staff took on our suppliers raising £8,523!
Site to Site Walk – Trekking 12-miles from our project site in Gaydon to Cubbington.

The charities that will benefit from this year’s fundraising events include:

Helping Hands Community – Helps local people in need
Molly Holly Wishes – Supports children with terminal & life-threatening illnesses
Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance – Rapid emergency response
Doorway Youth Homelessness – Supports homeless & vulnerable 16-25-year olds
Young People First – Works with disadvantaged & vulnerable young people
Guys Gift – Supports bereaved children

A special mention for their hard work and efforts to Kelly Davis, Michael Hughes, Berwyn, John Maxwell, Hessy Fakatou and Daniel Taylor, who have worked tirelessly throughout the year and whose huge drive for success have been instrumental in helping us reach our £15,000 target in 2018.

OBCL Managing Director, Peter O’Brien said: ‘We would like to thank everyone who participated and contributed to the success of us reaching our target again this year, everyone’s hard work and generosity enables us to donate much needed funds for good causes. We are looking forward to some fun activities in the new year to help us hit our target again for 2019.’

If you would like more information on the O’Brien Charitable Trust and our events, please click on our link for more information https://trust.obriencontractors.co.uk.

If you would like to make a donation to the trust, there is a very easy payment facility on the Charitable Trust Weblink above, where you can make a donation and leave a message, or if you prefer you can make an anonymous donation.

Here at O’Brien we have had some mo-mentous fundraising results for the trust. Movember has been a huge triumph with an epic £3,125 being raised by the team and this figure is still rising.

The Charitable Trust are over the moon with the success of the tache-growing-team, their fundraising efforts has meant that O’Brien have met their £15K target for 2018.

Peter O’Brien said: “With only 4 people in the Movember team, £3K + is an unbelievable total! It has been a fantastic success, simple, straightforward and great fun. Thanks very much to everyone involved and most importantly it will have just got us past the annual £15K target, which is brilliant.”

If you would like to continue to support or donate to O’Brien Charitable Trust, please follow the link here: https://trust.obriencontractors.co.uk/

On Saturday 13th October, 20 of O’Brien staff with friends and family, and a dog, undertook a 10 mile walk across the Cotswold’s hills.

Setting off for 8:30am the team headed up Brailes Hill, followed by Broom Hill and lastly tackling Yarn Hill, where after they took a well-deserved rest at the Bell Inn at Shennington.

O’Brien Charitable Trust were behind the event, which raised money for its nominated charities and proved to be an enjoyable day out for all.

Darren Wortley, O’Brien Buyer said: “It was a great day out with excellent comradery amongst the team, the Cotswold hills were a stunning background to whole event. We couldn’t have asked for better weather.”

If you would like to find out more about O’Brien Charitable Trust and how much they have raised so far, please visit: https://trust.obriencontractors.co.uk/ 

O’Brien’s Charitable Trust Golf Day was a huge triumph raising thousands for charity.

The O’Brien Charity Golf Day took place on the 27^th July at Leamington Country Golf Club in Whitnash. O’Brien staff and suppliers all teed off for charity before enjoying a sit-down meal and bidding in the charity auction. There was an impressive range of auction prizes to be won, ranging from a 1966 World Cup signed shirt to Sir Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles signed prints. (see images below)

Peter O’Brien, Managing Director, said: “The day was a brilliant success, I’m so pleased with the amount the trust has raised for all its charities. Everybody had a fantastic time and the level of generosity from all who attended was heart-warming. I want to extend my thanks to all the staff who played a part in making the day a success.”

O’Brien Charitable Trust will continue to raise funds for its charities throughout 2018, if you would like to help or contribute in any way please contact, Kelly Davis at kellydavis@obriencontractors.co.uk or call 01926 423918.

O’Brien Contractors have kindly offered to sponsor Kelly Davis and her horse Profit in “The Nations Challenge” where they both will be representing England in the over 17’s age group at the Royal Welsh Show, Powys, on the 22-26^th July 2018.

Kelly who has worked at O’Brien for the last 3 years has represented England in 2005 and 2007 in the under 17’s age group, this will be the first time in in the over 17’s age group. She will be riding against 8 teams from Wales, France, Denmark, Scotland, USA, Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland.

This will be Kelly’s final competitive ride before she retires from competition, she brought Profit on from a 3-year-old to the experienced 8-year-old he is today and hopes to end their career on an all-time high.

Kelly Davis, Business Support, O’Brien Contractors Ltd, said: “The sponsorship means a great deal to me, as a rider and an employee. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for myself and my horse, competing at a high level is expensive, travel costs, new kits and just the general up keep will be over £600. The sponsorship from O’Brien will help me cover some of this cost and make the whole experience more enjoyable, it will be amazing way to end my career with my companies support.

With everyone behind her at O’Brien, let’s hope this final challenge is one to be remembered.