M&S has recently announced its plans to support 40 local community projects across the country to mark its 40th year in Ireland.
Throughout June and July, 500 colleagues from all 18 stores across the country have collectively volunteered over 4,000 hours to support local initiatives and projects.
"We believe each of these 40 projects, which our colleagues and customers truly care about, will do so much good and create a real, lasting difference.” Ken Scully, Country Manager and Director, M&S Ireland said.
In Dublin, 30 volunteers from M&S stores were put to work painting and decorating the club’s sports hall, as well as drama and games rooms for Belvedere Youth Club to help support young people living in the north inner city.
The club, which is attended by nearly 400 children and young people, provides sports, youth theatre and arts classes, as well as a drop-in service and after-school programme.
Updating these spaces will help Belvedere Youth Club to be able to continue to deliver these important social, educational and recreational programmes, the British retailer said in a statement.
"Fundraising and volunteer support is vital to continue our service for young people in Dublin’s north inner city and the new and improved spaces will make a tangible difference to our members’ lives," Gillian Collins, Operations Manager of Belvedere Youth Club said.
"Support from companies like M&S help us to provide our members with an open space to make positive life choices, be it through educational support, career guidance, finding a sport they love or looking at how they spend their time with their friends.”
Key Project
Other key projects M&S colleagues are supporting across the 40 days include:
A bag pack across all 18 stores in the Republic of Ireland for Pieta House to raise €100,000, which will enable Pieta House Resilience Academy facilitator teams to reach additional secondary schools and students with its six-week mental health programme.
Groundskeeping, painting and cleaning at Barretstown ahead of this year’s summer camps for seriously ill children.
Raising money in-store for Make-A-Wish to grant wishes for children living with life-threatening medical conditions.
Gardening at the Alzheimer Society of Ireland’s Day Care Centre in Blackrock to create a welcoming and relaxing outdoor space for the people with dementia who attend each day.
Delivering food and sleeping bags to help the homeless through difficult times with Inner City Helping Homeless.
The volunteer projects all help the different groups of people that M&S and its customers feel passionate about supporting, covering a wide range of organisations including schools, food banks, youth clubs and education charities to create positive outcomes for thousands of people across Ireland.
M&S worked with Business in the Community Ireland to partner with organisations and charities that would benefit from support.
Speaking about the campaign, BITCI Chief Executive Tomás Sercovich said: “We were delighted to support M&S with this ambitious community engagement plan. The public expect businesses to positively impact on the communities in which they operate and M&S have truly embraced this ideal not just for the past 40 years but will continue to do so for many more years to come.”
The M&S 40 local community projects are part of a year-long celebration to mark the 40th anniversary of M&S in the Republic of Ireland.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
