Dardan celebrates International Day of Charity
Sunday 5th September marks the International Day of Charity. It was first introduced by the United Nations and the aim is to raise awareness and give a platform to charitable activities around the world. The International Day of Charity seeks to enhance social responsibility and increase public support of charitable causes.
So, what makes this day so important?
It reminds us to give back – it’s very easy to live our lives and forget about those less fortunate in the world. International Day of Charity helps bring our attention back and raise awareness for all the little ways we can help.
It also spreads awareness – International Day of Charity gives a platform to causes that we might otherwise not be aware of, as well as providing lots of ways to help these causes.
It helps us find causes we believe in – everyone has different causes they feel passionate about, whether it be animal rights or environmental causes. By giving a platform for lots of different causes, International Day of Charity may help you find a charity you feel passionate about!
One charity in particular which is very dear to us at Dardan is BUILD.
Established in 1967, the BUILD Charity provides social, leisure and learning opportunities for anyone, with any disability, aged 16 or above. Their aim is to support and co-ordinate opportunities so that people with disabilities can access, and enjoy, the kind of social life that most of us take for granted.
The BUILD ethos is “We do different so that people with disabilities don’t have to feel different”.
They do this through around 300 individual opportunities, each year, offered through a published three-monthly programme delivered through four core strands:
The Wednesday Club – a weekly evening social club which facilitates a safe environment and friendly atmosphere for people with disabilities to gather and enjoy a range of activities
The Community Opportunities Programme – a range of community-based meals out, sporting, recreational, cultural indoor and outdoor activities
Skills for Life – monthly bite-sized sessions helping people maximise their independent living
GetAways and the BUILD Travel Service – Days out, short breaks and holidays
As a charity, BUILD relies on the time, commitment, and dedication of those that put themselves forward to volunteer on behalf of them. The benefits of volunteering are endless but can be summarized here:
Making a real difference to real people’s lives – support for someone with a disability in accessing one of the BUILD programmes means that your input reduces social isolation, increases confidence, and widens horizons.
Dardan Chairman, Mark Duffy, is a Lead Volunteer for the BUILD Wednesday Club, he has held a volunteering role with the charity since 2013. In addition to this, Mark is also a BUILD Ambassador, a role which involves raising awareness of the charity as well as supporting fundraising efforts where possible.
More recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mark has been able to assist the charity in selecting new operating premises when they were required to relocate from their previous headquarters. When asked about his ongoing commitment to BUILD, Mark says “My aim is very simple, I very much want to be a friend to the charity and assist where I can”
In addition to the ongoing support of BUILD, Dardan have also recently become a ‘friend’ to the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation.
The CCF is a proactive community and philanthropic leader dedicated to improving the quality of life for the people of Cambridgeshire. To advance their mission, they work with many partners to:
· Actively inspire philanthropy and increase permanent resources for the county of Cambridgeshire
· Invest in important community programmes through grants
· Provide leadership and a forum for dialogue on critical community issues
An example of the work that the CCF do can be seen by the recent collaboration with Made By Sport and UKCF to offer local sports clubs and organisations across Cambridgeshire and Essex the opportunity to apply for a grant which can help support young people as they start to recover from the effects of the latest lockdown.
The Dardan values of Services, People and Culture are completely aligned with our desire to have a positive social value impact on the communities we live and work in.
We are constantly looking at what we are doing as a business to positively impact those around us, whether this is through charitable donations, volunteering or attending a charity event, our responsibility in this area is always at the top of our agenda.
#TeamDardan #DardanCommunity
To find out more information about BUILD and CCF, check out the links below
