Professional recruitment specialists Pure spent time volunteering with Emmaus Suffolk on Thursday 20 June, sprucing up its community café garden.

As part of an event organised by Do Good Networking, ten employees from Pure’s Ipswich office split into two groups over the morning and rolled up their sleeves to get stuck into fence painting, gardening and weeding to help support the local charity.

Emmaus Suffolk offers opportunities through the meaningful activity for homeless, socially isolated and long-term unemployed people. Through education, training and work, the charity helps people to develop skills for future employment and maintain their sense of self-worth and dignity. Its community café and garden is situated at the Emmaus Suffolk Dales Community Hub in Ipswich, which also includes accommodation and a charity shop selling a variety of donated and upcycled items. The goal is for each of the charity’s community hubs to become self-sufficient, supporting itself with the revenue it generates through the businesses. The volunteering time spent tidying up the garden will not only help to make it a more attractive space for those supported by the charity and visitors to enjoy, but it will also help the longer-term plan of growing fruit, vegetables and plants for sale.

Pure actively encourages its colleagues to work together and give back to their local communities through paid time off to take part in volunteering activities like this, or charity challenges and fundraising.

Gill Buchanan, Pure’s COO, said: “Supporting our local communities is not just an important part of our corporate social responsibility; it is also great for our employee engagement. Our team really enjoy the chance to work together and make a real difference to the many great causes on our doorstep. It reinforces our company values, which include Pure supports and Pure teamwork, and gives our employees an added sense of purpose.”

The chance to help Emmaus Suffolk, which also has charity shops at the Sailmakers Shopping Centre in Ipswich and at Station Square in Felixstowe, particularly appealed to Pure’s Ipswich team.

Paul Sheldrake, Business Director at Pure’s Ipswich office said: “As a business which supports people to find work, being able to volunteer with a charity that provides meaningful work and employment opportunities really resonated with us. It was also incredibly rewarding to be able to work with other like-minded business people, brought together by Do Good Networking, to tidy up the community gardens. Our time and efforts will allow volunteers at the charity and members of the public to really enjoy using the space and have also created the opportunity for them to grow fresh fruit and vegetables. What may seem like a small thing will make a big difference to those that use this space on a regular basis.”

Photo credit - Claudia Gannon© - http://www.claudia-gannon.com