£2,750 raised in Ongo Christmas Cheer campaign

Our staff have been spreading Christmas cheer throughout North Lincolnshire and beyond in the run up to Christmas with a variety of events and fundraisers taking place.

£2,750 has been donated or used to host festive events throughout December, as part of an annual Christmas calendar organised by us.

The events which have been running throughout the whole of December include:

• £300 for Alzheimer’s Society – raised through the #OngoElfieSelfie campaign
• £400 for SOB’s and the Samaritans – raised through a festive raffle
• £285 – for Save the Children – raised through Christmas Jumper Day donations
• £100 – donated by us towards the Westcliff Christmas light switch on
• £1,200 – to spend on local good causes such as Blue Door, The Forge, Dementia awareness, local food banks, Scunthorpe General Hospital, The Samaritans, SOB’s, Drug Awareness, and  local cat and dog charities
• £65 – raised by staff and tenants at a festive coffee morning at a sheltered scheme with money raised going to making dementia friendly jigsaws
• £400 donated to Lindsey Lodge Hospice (a donation made for all staff completing a staff survey)

Other local people and causes supported throughout these events include:

• A coffee morning held for our tenants
• Supporting a local family to renovate their home
• Big Christmas Lunch for tenants that will be alone at Christmas
• Christmas lunch for clients working with our Employment Support Team
• Supporting The HUB in Westcliff in their ’21 days of Christmas’
• A ‘carols and coffee’ intergenerational event for our older tenants with carols sung by a local pre-school
• Christmas events for local tenants at the Viking Centre in Barton

Nichola Hunt, PA to the Chief Executive and lead organiser of the festive activities, said: “Every year in the run up to Christmas we try to do our bit to give back to the local community, and this year was no different. Lots of our teams got involved and took the lead in organising events to support either our tenants, a local good cause or a national charity.

“From holding a morning of carols and games with our older tenants and a local nursery, to supporting local charities such as The Forge and Blue Door, arranging a Big Christmas Lunch for our tenants that will be alone on Christmas Day and staff donning their finest Christmas jumpers to raise money for Save The Children; there’s been a lot going on.

“We have a commitment as an organisation to support local people and the North Lincolnshire community, so it’s been great to end the year by getting over 100 of our staff involved in the various events throughout December.”

Over 100 staff were involved in the planning and hosting of the various events, including staff from our Chief Executive Team, Employment Support Team, Recruitment Team, Housing Management Team, Lettings Team, PR Team and Maintenance Team.

Nina Shrimpton, from SOB’s, said: “It’s fantastic to receive support from Ongo, and the money they raised will be so useful in helping support families who have lost someone by suicide.

“We rely a lot on fundraising so for a large local organisation like Ongo to offer to support us in their festive activities is amazing, we really appreciate it.”