Society

Flagship Projects

Each year our regional businesses propose projects of special note for corporate Flagship status; this entitles the chosen charity to up to £100,000 of funding. The Company favours projects where our employees are personally involved, or projects that are close to communities in which we operate, rather than national or global causes.

2007/8

This year’s Flagship Award has been divided between two projects:

Coleto Creek, North America – for the construction of a fire station for the Fannin Volunteer Fire Department (FVFD)
KAPCO, Pakistan – for the construction of a fire station and the provision of one fire engine in the township of Kot Addu

We felt both these projects showed merit and have offered each the sum of £57,500. Although this is not the full amount required to fully complete either project, it will provide them with crucial funding for the majority of the work. Both recipients have pledged to raise the outstanding amount in their local communities.

Coleto Creek, North America

The FVFD have already secured the necessary land, and to date have raised sufficient funds to lay the foundations for the new fire station. This award will allow them to continue with their building programme and, hopefully, complete the work by autumn.

Coleto Creek is a member of the Goliad County community, in Texas, which is a rural area with less than 10,000 residents. The FVFD has responsibility to respond to calls from residents in an area covering 200 sq miles, and without this facility it would take an additional 30 critical minutes for another fire department to arrive on the scene.

The village of Fannin is two miles from our Coleto Creek plant, making the FVFD the closest fire department and the first responder to any fire at the site. Coleto Creek is proud to have two of their employees as members of the FVFD.

KAPCO, Pakistan

There are currently no fire fighting facilities in the township of Kot Addu. In the event of a fire the nearest facility is some 45/50 minutes away. In recent years there have been 15 major fire incidents in and around the township of Kot Addu, the most recent being a shopping centre which was completely destroyed. It took around seven hours to bring this fire under control and luckily there were no casualties.

The importance of this project is highlighted by the fact government land has already been made available for it, and the district government will be responsible for operating costs going forward. They have also agreed to train the fire fighters.

2006/7

In 2007 we took the unusual step of selecting two major projects, each requiring funds in the region of £100,000. Both these projects are on track, and are due to complete in the second quarter of 2008.

The Grace Berglund Centre, Victoria, Australia – to fund the creation of a new ‘child friendly’ reception area and to purchase specialised transport.
The Hope Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – for training of additional teachers in the essential and specialised skills required and to cover the purchase of transport and necessary equipment for the Center.

Victoria, Australia

Originally built as a combined school and adult training centre for people with cerebral palsy or with physical and multiple disabilities, the Grace Berglund Centre in Warragul, Victoria, Australia now provides therapy support, clinics, equipment fittings and assessments.

The Centre provides education and growth opportunities for children of various abilities, respite care for parents and a range of other services.

The £80,000 award was announced in early 2007 and was donated to SCOPE which operates the Centre. A new bus has been purchased with the funding which will also be put towards major renovations to the building. These works and associated landscaping should be completed by mid 2008.

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

The Hope Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia is a multilingual, multicultural centre for children with special needs, and is unique within the Kingdom in that it caters for both physical and mental disabilities. This is the first Flagship Award in the Middle East and is being used to fund additional teachers in the essential and specialised skills required for this important work. The award also covers the purchase of transport and necessary equipment for the Center.

This project, nominated by Ranald Spiers, Executive Director Middle East & Asia, is providing funding to expand the facilities offered by the Hope Center. The Center provides skills training in the areas of cognition, self help, socialisation and behaviour modification. Another vital area is the support and training they provide for parents.

Flagship projects since 2000

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