Jacqui Paice, Apleona’s UK & Nordics Managing Director celebrated 10 years working at Apleona in October. She decided to mark this milestone by embarking on a road trip around the UK, meeting with as many frontline teams, clients and suppliers as she could in a week.
Jacqui comments: ‘Covid-19 put a stop to so many work interactions and I’ve missed those. I wanted to essentially get back to the floor and remind myself of the range of services Apleona offer.’
It was also crucial than in doing this challenge, Jacqui would raise money for our UK company sponsored charity – Mind – choosing the Hammersmith, Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow branch (HFEH). Mind is a mental health charity in England and Wales, and offers information and advice to the people with mental health problems.
Fundraising took place in a number of ways. Firstly, with donations to a JustGiving page to sponsor Jacqui’s journey. Many of our preferred suppliers wanted to get involved - some made generous donations, and many others donated gifts, ranging from indulgent hampers, vacuum cleaners, iPads, and football tickets. From here, an online raffle, and an auction took place, with all UK Apleona employees invited to take part.
Before she could set off on the trip, Jacqui needed transport, and a driver. The latter problem was soon solved – Jacqui’s husband John decided he did not want to miss out on all the fun so volunteered to accompany Jacqui for the week. Little did John know, he would soon become chief photographer for the trip too!
Preferred supplier, Volvo, kindly lent Jacqui and John a Volvo Hybrid to test drive for the week, where they racked up 825 miles in total!
The week was memorable. Jacqui took part in many of our employee day-to-day tasks, from cleaning audits, security inspections, water testing, and pond cleaning! She donned outfits including a hard hat, high vis, waterproofs, and not forgetting her most glamourous outfit of the week – an all-in-one paper white overall. It’s safe to say she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty this week!
Jacqui says: ‘Thank you to those involved for all your support, and thank you to those have donated. It’s been a fantastic opportunity to refocus our business strategy to realign it with what our front line teams do day in and day out – delivering great service for our clients.
I had a really great week – though I was shattered by the end of it and slept well that weekend!’
Jacqui raised an incredible £5140.67 for Mind. Benn Keaveney, Mind HFEH's CEO speaks of his gratitude: ‘Thank you so much to Jacqui, and everyone at Apleona who made this fundraising initiative such a success, we are incredibly grateful for all of your hard work. This money will make a real difference in our support offer.’
The money from this fundraising will go towards supporting Mind HFEH’s frontline services that support the local community. You can find out more about this on their website: hfehmind.org.uk
