The owner of an Ely-based firm has spoken about the positive impact that fundraising has had on his staff.
James Stevens, founder and CEO of Cambridge Commodities, which provides nutritional ingredients across a variety of industries, founded his company working out of his parents’ spare bedroom aged 21.
While it now has a global workforce of 170 staff and offices in Ely, Sacramento and the Netherlands, the company didn’t start raising money for charity until its 20th year.
“I really wanted to raise £20,000 for charity in our 20th year so started looking for a charity,“ James said.
“Somebody wrote down Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust and it just stood out.
“It’s the perfect charity for a business of our location and size and it touches the hearts of every single member of staff.
“We all know someone who has either been admitted to the hospital or visited somebody there. All my children were born in the Rosie.”
Emily, the firm’s EU account manager, whose two-year-old Ayda was born in the Rosie just after Christmas, helped other members of staff to wrap Christmas presents which ACT funded to be distributed to patients on Christmas Day.
“I was in hospital on Christmas Day waiting to give birth so I received one of the Christmas presents that ACT had funded; some hand cream and body lotion, which was a really thoughtful present.
“Something like that just makes you feel supported and reassured that people are thinking of you and trying to make you feel better about being in hospital over Christmas, when you don’t want to be.”
Natalie Scott Paul, the firm’s head of payroll, meanwhile organises the Annual Christmas Ball with finance manager Carly Purell.
“As one of our things we wanted to do, staff chose to pay the salary of a play therapist.
“That year my daughter was admitted to Addenbrooke’s, and the play therapist came to see her while she was waiting to be seen. I texted everyone at work and said, ‘we did that!’”
Staff have also taken part in, or organised, a range of activities – from wrapping Christmas presents for patients to competing in the Cambridge Half Marathon to handing out daffodils to hospital staff at Easter.
“We were handing out daffodils to staff as they were leaving work for the day,” James said.
“And to see the smiles on their exhausted faces, you cannot describe how good that feels.
“To see them all leaving and to be able to say thank you is amazing. I think we all had a little cry when we got home that day.”
The firm has organised other events themselves - from cake bakes to a cycleathon (24 hours of cycling).
They also completed a walking challenge where staff had to walk the equivalent in miles from their office in Ely to their office in Sacramento (over 5,000 miles which they more than doubled).
After five years, the company's annual Christmas Ball is soon expected to top half a million pounds raised.
As for James, he said that fundraising gives his staff an enormous sense of pride and helps him get to know employees in areas of the business he wouldn’t normally interact with. It also helps with recruitment.
“We have people saying they chose us as an employer because we had a relationship with a charity," he added.
For any company thinking of becoming a corporate supporter for ACT, James said: “You just need to find the time to do it, but that is paid back in spades through the happiness of your staff.”
To support ACT, email Natasha.Robertson@act4addenbrookes.org.uk
Find out more about fundraising on the ACT website.
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