“We need to work together to change lives,” says Anita Bates, Director of Marketing & Fundraising at Perennial.
With more and more people in the arb sector facing really difficult times that impact them physically, mentally and financially, Perennial’s help is needed more than ever. Perennial is the only charity that anyone working in this industry can turn to whatever their problem. Our aim is to build better futures for individuals and families, but how we help is not always widely understood.
Some people think that our help is not for them, but we help everyone in horticulture, which includes everyone working with trees. If you work in arboriculture, you and your family are eligible for our support from the start of your career and all the way through to retirement.
Our lifelong support is needed now more than ever. These challenging and uncertain times are affecting people working across the industry, especially as statutory welfare support bodies are being phased out and funding is being reduced. Last year there was an increase of 10% in the number of people contacting us for help. Our team helped them access £3.6m in financial support, and that included 147 children assisted through the new summer holiday and back to school campaigns.
They say prevention is better than cure and that is central to our work this year. We want to help people before a situation becomes a crisis, so this year we are launching four new services aimed at preventing people getting into difficulty in the first place.
These are:
- Online budgeting tool: anyone can use this anonymous tool to manage spending and avoid debt.
- Mental health online support network: it’s important to take care of our mental health and one person in four experiences problems at some point, so this 24/7 network is available for everyone.
- Access to a physiotherapist: remaining in good health is so important in an industry where physical ability is key to many jobs, so Perennial is working in partnership to provide a full muscular-skeletal service.
- Employment support: this helps those who are unable to continue in their current role to find a new career.
We can make a difference to someone’s life but we need your ongoing support. We know there are people struggling who would benefit from our support, if only they knew we were here. We also need to increase the funds we raise so we can help the ever-increasing number of people who need us. That is where you come in, whatever size your company. Together we can spread the word to everyone in the industry, and also make sure that there are enough funds to help them now and in the future.
There are many ways businesses can get involved. Our Perennial Partner scheme offers a simple way to regularly support the charity and many encourage their staff to get involved in additional fundraising challenges. By engaging with Perennial, employees learn about the help they could receive from us and are more likely to remember us should they need us in the future. As we nurture relationships and build partnerships where Perennial becomes an integral part of the business, we’ve seen that employees feel able to call us when times get tough.
If you would like to discuss how your company can get involved and support our work, please contact our Corporate Partnership Manager Phil Swainston on 0800 093 8510 or email info@perennial.org.uk
Find out more about what we do at: www.perennial.org.uk
This article was taken form Issue 188 Spring 2020 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.