LASER and npower Business Solutions (nBS) have been working together to scope out projects to help local communities. One of the ideas was to facilitate a community event day, not only to bring the local community together but also involve local businesses, thereby building a connected neighbourhood.
We were looking for locations that would benefit from advice and support on several issues, including, but not limited to, energy efficiency, fuel benefits, mental health advice, and fuel poverty assistance. These issues affect so many at the moment, and the work of Gillingham Street Angels over recent years has highlighted a specific need and provided a route to an audience that would benefit from this support.
nBS lined up their team and the representatives from some of their collaborators in the shape of Charis, NEA and MIND to provide a base on which to build. Our social value champion, Kathleen Reid (Energy Procurement Manager), visited the Gillingham Street Angels Emporium in Chatham to help scope out how the day would pan out and how to make the most of the resources available. We were lucky that Gillingham Street Angels had a great network of people, but they hadn’t been in Intra Chatham High Street for a long time and so they were keen to use the opportunity to reach out to local businesses to help with the arrangements for the day as a way of bedding into the area.
GSA successfully arranged for three local restaurants/cafes to support the event, the local Granite Gym to agree to a self-defence display, Medway Adult Education had a stall offering advice and also fun activities for the children, GSA did a tombola, Shed Angels were selling wooden bird tables and reaching out to people to join them in creating amazing projects from wood destine for land fill, in addition there was someone offering health advice and also Carers First there to guide anyone struggling with their responsibilities to care for others (they said they deal with some carers as young as 5 years old, caring for their siblings or parents and other carers as old as 95!) On top of that, there was a recycling art stall, glitter tattoo table, children’s activity table linked to the promotion of the Intra as a community, and of course, a bouncy castle and an ice cream van.
Stallholders arrived from 8 am, and after the building of some curious structures, things started to take shape.
The sun was shining, and the efforts of planning paid off, with a great array of support agencies and everyone keen to make the day a success.
Pamphlets were given out, freebies were distributed, the castle started to bounce, and food was eaten. The atmosphere for the day was great, and it was a pleasure to be part of such an event with the knowledge that people were having a good time, accessing useful advice, and discovering new avenues of assistance.
LASER and nPower Business Solutions (nBS) came together in 2024 to develop a Social Value plan as part of the 2024 – 2028 Electricity Flexible Procurement and Supply Framework. Helping food banks was at the top of the list. Read all about the food banks nominated and the difference the funding has made.
Launching July 2024, TotalEnergies, in partnership with LASER, launched their community fund competition as part of a joint social value initiative. Available exclusively to TotalEnergies customers on our Flexible Procurement Framework, they had a £5,000 fund open to applicants who wanted to make a difference to their community centre.
We are very proud to be working with one of our energy suppliers, nPower Business Solutions on several social value initiatives that support our customers and the communities they represent. One of the projects was collaborating with an education charity, Energy Sparks to deliver energy workshops to schools.