Two of the biggest names in the delivery sector have recently been doing their bit to support good causes.
At Stansted Gateway, more than 20 volunteers from FedEx packed and sorted more than 600 boxes of toys in support of the children’s charity KidsOut.
For the third year running FedEx team members and their families, working alongside staff from the charity, came together to help classify, categorise and label toys according to the children’s age and gender. Each box was filled with 12 brand new toys, including games to play, books to read and a teddy bear, to help bring joy and happiness to children who had been victims of, or witness to, domestic violence.
Yodel, meanwhile, helped ship 250,000 books around the UK in support of World Book Night, the third consecutive year it has done so.
World Book Night has been run by national charity The Reading Agency since 2011, and aims to inspire those who don’t regularly read to pick up a book. Since its launch, it has given books away to over 2.25 million people, supported by a group of 56,000 volunteers.
Now in its 25th anniversary year, KidsOut has helped more than half a million disadvantaged children by giving them life-changing experiences. Every year, KidsOut helps over 35,000 children, who may have been the victims of domestic violence by creating life-changing positive experiences for them. Working jointly with the Women’s Aid Federation, KidsOut provides children with a box of brand new toys when they leave a refuge and move into their new home.
Gordon Moulds, chief executive of KidsOut, said: “It is shocking in this day and age that we still have children suffering on our doorstep. We support refuges where these children are taken and we give them a chance to have their own toy or day out: just to show them that someone cares! Many of the UK’s children have experienced a very dark place, one of violence and even terror, and we want to help bring some light and joy into their lives.”
“We are proud to once again support the children’s charity KidsOut,” said William Martin, managing director of International Gateways and GTS, UK and Ireland, FedEx Express EMEA. “The charity provides valuable services to children across the UK and we hope that our contribution will also help to lift their spirits.”
Dick Stead, executive chairman at Yodel, said: “We’re delighted to be helping set the nation on their reading journey as delivery partner for World Book Night. It’s such a great initiative, and we’re proud to be helping people rediscover a love of reading.”
(Pictured above: Yodel driver Paul Tracey, author Mary Gibson and volunteers at John Harvard Library in Bermondsey. Pictured below: FedEx volunteers at Stansted Gateway.)
