Peterborough firms step up to help residents hit by pandemic

O&H Land and the BGL group, have both made donations to the Peterborough Coordination Hub, which was set up to support people affected by pandemic who don’t have support from friends, family or neighbours.

O&H Land’s donation of £25,000 will benefit a number of charities which have been supporting residents in response to the Covid-19 emergency, including Disability Peterborough, Age UK, PAB (Peterborough Association for the Blind), Cambridgeshire Deaf Association, City College Foundation, Food for Nought and Peterborough Council for Voluntary Service (PCVS).

PCVS will further distribute some of its funding to smaller groups to benefit even more of the community.

Tobin Rickets, Director for O&H Land said: “O&H has been an important part of Peterborough’s story over the last 25 years, with 6000 houses now occupied at Hampton. We have always maintained an excellent working relationship with the City Council and the wider Peterborough Community and we wanted to support some of the charities in most need of help during this current crisis.”

Financial services company, BGL Group, donated £3,700 to pay for ICT equipment for local care homes as part of its £1.5 million ‘Empower, Pledge, Donate’ community campaign which aims to support community causes impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.

Eleven iPads with stands have been purchased and delivered to priority care homes in order to allow their residents to Facetime their families. It will also allow for virtual meetings via ‘Teams’ with the adult social care staff.

This donation by BGL group will have a noteworthy impact on these care home residents as many have been struggling with the self-isolation measures which have suspended visits from family and friends.

Caroline Raines, Director of Communications at BGL Group, said: “We’re only too pleased to be able to support our care homes at this time by keeping elderly and vulnerable residents in touch with their loved ones.

“Our charitable work is a key part of BGL and it’s important to our colleagues to be able to support people in their own communities.

“We’re pleased to have been in a position to support more than 100 organisations through our Empower, Pledge, Donate campaign, and we’d like to add our thanks to the many charities supporting those in need at this time.”

Wendi Ogle-Welbourn, Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of People & Communities, said: “On behalf of Peterborough Community Resource Group (hub), I would like to say big thank you to both O&H Land and BGL Group for their kind donations in support of the work of the hub. The hub is made up of over sixty voluntary, community, faith and public sector services and these donation will go a long way to support them to meet the needs of all our vulnerable residents.

“These donations will make a massively positive impact on our communities and those struggling as a result of the current crisis.

“It is so heart-warming to see local businesses displaying so much compassion for our residents by making such thoughtful donations to support the local community during these difficult times.

“It is yet another incredible example of the city coming together to support each other.”