The Pavers Foundation, charitable initiative of the multi-channel footwear retailer Pavers has recently awarded £1,000 to PARC (Essex), a charity providing play and recreation facilities for children with additional needs. The donation was made on behalf of Tanya Smith, Manager at Pavers Braintree, who applied through the Foundation’s grant scheme.
The Pavers Foundation encourages all colleagues to submit applications for charities and causes, which are impactful in areas of health, education and community, the 3 key areas of the Foundation’s philanthropic strategy.
Tanya applied for the funding to give back to PARC, feeling that the charity was of great importance to all in her community saying; “They are a local charity to me and the work that they do to support family is of great importance. Everyone in their life needs support at some time and PARC do this, they give back to so many families. They support children with special needs in the art of play, while giving respite. Every child should be able to play no matter what challenges they have, PARC put families first.”
The grant funding will be used for summer holiday trips for children who attend PARC. So far, the charity has organised a trip to Lambourne End Farm, a beach adventure in Clactor and Pottery Painting. Friederike Walter explained the difference that this grant funding will make to the charity: “We are very grateful for the very kind and generous donation from Pavers. It is an exceptionally difficult time for charities now and charities such as ours need funding more than ever. The demand for our services has increased massively over the last few months and we want to help as many people as possible. Donations such as this helps us carry on helping our families and provide the valuable respite service they need.”
The Foundation is proud to be able to continually make a difference to charities which are close to the hearts of its 1,400 colleagues. Launched in 2018 as a legacy to the late Catherine Paver, Pavers Founder, its sole purpose is to ‘make a difference with every pair’ by utilising the initial investment from the business together with subsequent donations of 2% net profits annually and proceeds from the carrier bag levy. The Foundation has recently reached its £1 million milestone of charitable giving which has had a positive impact on tens of thousands of lives across the UK and the world. The vast majority of the donations are awarded to charities voted for by colleagues working in the business through votes for annual charities and individual grant applications.
