Spreading Christmas cheer with charity donations

Items such as tinned meat and fish, tinned vegetables, pasta sauce and toiletries were all collected and donated to Birmingham Central Foodbank. Collections have also taken place in Yorkshire, the North East and London offices.

Our Organisational Development & Change Partner Nicola Gill said:

“We’re always keen to do our bit and help the local community in Birmingham where we have our offices and it’s more important than ever given the hardships many people are facing at present. It has been a real team effort and it is great to work with so many National Highways colleagues to play a part in giving something back to local communities.

“We’re incredibly grateful to our colleagues for their kind-hearted donations and hopefully it will spread a little Christmas cheer to those that need it.”

Elsewhere, the Yorkshire and North East Highways community, which includes representation from construction, design and maintenance contractors along with National Highways, joined forces to help support families in need.

It came together to host food bank and gift drop off points across offices and depots in the north, with donations heading to The Trussell Trust and Salvation Army.

Tarmac led the charge along with the support of Emma Hughes from Jacobs to coordinate donations of new gifts, crafts, and toys for Salvation Army; while Concrete Repairs Ltd (CRL) arranged food and treat items for The Trussell Trust food bank network.  

More than 100 boxes and gift bags, stuffed with donations collected by staff across 16 organisations, are now headed for charity depots in Barnsley, Leeds and Middlesbrough.

Andrew Jennings, our Supplier Relationship Manager, said:

“We are delighted with the response from staff across National Highways and our supply chain who have come together to help so many families in the area, especially with the cost-of-living crisis impacting on so many.

"The results show the power of us all working together, and we are grateful to everyone involved for donating and organising the collection.”

Suzanne Humphrey, from Leeds West Hunslet Salvation Army, added:

"Thank you so much for the support, your donations will help us to reach the most vulnerable in the community at Christmas. People don’t always realise the difference these donations make, they really do help so many families.”

Our construction workers who remodelled the bottleneck junction 25 on the M25 also dug deep to help provide gifts for the community in the area, as work on the project comes to an end.

Contractors from Mott Macdonald and the GRAHAM group - working on our behalf on the Enfield roundabout improvements - gave up their time and volunteered at the Broxbourne Foodbank warehouse to ‘give back’ to the local community.

They got involved with weighing in over 120 crates of donations, sorting items the foodbank had received into order and helping put food parcels together, which will be sent on to the foodbank’s pick-up points in the area.

The team also dropped off over 75 kgs of food such as biscuits, selection boxes and Christmas puddings, that will all help go towards people in need and provide them with a selection of treats.

Get more information on the Trussell Trust and Salvation Army.