IT'S ALL ABOUT GIVING. . .WE SUPPORT one NATIONAL CHARITy Each YEAR

Our employees are the heart of everything we do, we want to help support causes that are special to them ... so we figured it would only be right that they play a key role in the Pavers Foundation by nominating one significant charity every year to receive our support. 

Every year we nominate four major charities which are put to a popular vote amongst our colleagues at Pavers Shoes, Jones Bootmaker and Herring Shoes, the causes are chosen based on our core values, healthcare, education and community.

The cause which receives the most votes is selected as our Charity of the Year. 

Jason Paver, Director of Sales at Pavers with Margaret Johnson, Senior Trust and Statutory Officer at Mind and Stuart Paver, Manager Director of Pavers.
Jason Paver, Director of Sales at Pavers with Margaret Johnson, Senior Trust and Statutory Officer at Mind and Stuart Paver, Manager Director of Pavers.

We’re thrilled to announce Mind as our Charity of the Year for 2019/20! 

Mind have received a donation of £65,000 from the Pavers Foundation. 

Employees across Pavers Shoes, Jones Bootmaker and Herring Shoes united to vote for our next Charity of the Year, and had the tough task of choosing between four incredible charities; Antibiotic Research UK, Dogs for Good, Mind and Parkinson’s UK.

"I voted for Mind as they do such valuable work. As a mental health first aider within the business I recognise that many people can suffer poor mental health from time to time – whether it be, the stress and pressure of the workplace or school, anxiety, phobias and disorders, periodically people need someone they can talk to or confide in. Mind is a place of confidence and comfort for those people.”

 

Marie Samuels, Area Manager at Pavers and Pavers Foundation Committee Member

Mind is the leading mental health charity across England and Wales and are there to make sure everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets both respect and support. They give life-saving advice and information, campaign to improve services and reduce stigma, and deliver front-line services through their network of 120 local Minds.

“Although I have progressed lots since my suicide attempts and times in hospital, I still very much need support, I need Mind to keep existing, because to deal with all this alone is so impossibly difficult.”

 Our donation will help Mind to run and develop Elefriends, their online community of peer support.

The donation of £65,000 will help Mind welcome over 9,600 people to Elefriends, this coming year, and enable them to take a positive first step to getting the help they need.

The donation will also support moderators, who are essential to safeguarding and signposting users to relevant information or support services, to maintain an open and friendly environment for new and existing members.

Elefriends was created in partnership with the people they support. This digital platform is a lifeline for so many people who are struggling to cope, especially those that are vulnerable and socially excluded. Many people living with mental health problems feel isolated and lonely, they can also suffer from low self-esteem, or be too scared to leave their home, and all of these things can create a barrier to people opening up. That's why online peer support plays such an important role in someone's recovery, it gives people the anonymity they need to talk about their mental health in a way that suits them. 

The online community can be accessed anywhere, on the bus into work, in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep. It’s just a click away for people living in rural communities, or with mobility issues or those struggling to access mental health services.

“Elefriends in many ways has been my saving grace, it saved my life. For the first time ever I feel like there is hope, and if I need support there is a place I can go to.”

Elefriends help people lead mentally healthier lifestyles, combat loneliness and isolation, and find others who share similar experiences - showing people they’re not alone and preventing many from reaching crisis point. 

“I joined after an suicide attempt. I had nobody to confide in and felt really alone. Knowing I could switch on the computer and ask for help was a great feeling, and the responses I received were overwhelming, particularly considering they were from complete strangers!” – community member

The website and mobile app are formatted to allow members to share posts and images on the main wall, give support using interactive buttons like ‘I hear you’/ ‘thinking of you’, and send private messages to each other. The service is moderated from 6am-2am, 7 days a week, so it is a safe online space with a zero tolerance to bullying and discrimination. There is also an ‘I need urgent help’ button, which redirects people to a step by step support function on Mind’s website.

An elefriends image showing an elephant on the computer with a thumbs up on the screen

“We are so grateful to all the employees at Pavers, Jones Bootmaker and Herring, for choosing Mind as their Charity of the Year. It will help us ensure that everyone with a mental health problem gets support and respect. On behalf of everyone at Mind, thank you.”

 

Emma Ihsan, Head of Corporate Partnerships at Mind

If you would like to learn more about Elefriends, please visit: https://www.elefriends.org.uk/

Mind relies on the generosity of the public to run life-changing services for people who are struggling with their mental health. If you would like to make a donation, please visit https://www.mind.org.uk/donate/

 An Update from Mind: November 2020

"A lot has changed in the year since you gave us a generous donation of £65,000 in September 2019. The coronavirus pandemic has been the biggest challenge we have faced in our 74-year history. In the wake of the pandemic, we carried out a survey with 16,000 people, who shared their experiences of how Covid-19 has impacted their mental health. Over half of adults and two thirds of young people said their mental health got worse, with many developing problems for the first time.

Through the Pavers Foundation's generosity, we have been able to ensure our online peer support Platform has been able to continue running for people with mental health problems who want to connect to others who understand. This year we upgraded our peer support platform Elefriends to a new Side by Side platform in line with increased demand and users’ needs.

It has never been more important to give people a safe online space where they can come together, share their thoughts and feelings around the pandemic, and receive support from our trained moderators. This supportive community created through Side by Side has prevented many from reaching crisis point during a time of change - 53% of our peer support community members use it for urgent support.

As the coronavirus crisis unfolds, the impact on our mental health is unquestionable – this is not just a physical health pandemic, but a mental health one too. As the leading mental health charity in England and Wales, Mind is uniquely placed to respond to this crisis.

 

Thanks to the support of the Pavers Foundation we are able to help bring people together virtually at a time when the simple things that connect us to each other and keep us mentally well, like a hug from a grandchild or comfort from a friend, aren’t possible for so many."

Our Charities of the Year so far...

Dementia UK

In May, we announced Dementia UK as our second Charity of the Year. They received a donation of £65,000 from the Pavers Foundation!  

Dementia UK provides specialist dementia support for families with the help of their Admiral Nurse service.

The donation has funded a full-time Helpline Admiral Nurse, Helen Green, who has worked in dementia care for the past 17 years in hospitals, care homes and community settings. 

More Information > 

Macmillan Nurse and Patient Kate

MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT

The Pavers Foundation's first-ever Charity of the Year was announced back in December! Macmillan Cancer Support was nominated by the employees of Pavers, Jones Bootmaker and Herring Shoes!

In December 2018, Pavers Foundation donated an astonishing £62,500 to Macmillan Cancer Support. We were overjoyed to hear that this donation will fund a local Macmillan nurse for one year, or around 2,232 Macmillan nursing hours, helping people just like Kate.

MORE INFORMATION >