The Sure Community Foundation, the charitable enterprise of the telecoms company Sure, has donated more than £200,000 to local causes and charities since its inception in 2012.
The Sure Community Foundation was launched with a company donation and has continued to grow. The Foundation now spans the whole Sure Group across Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Falklands, St Helena, Ascension and Diego Garcia.
The Foundation is purely funded by a combination of staff and business donations and all of its management and fundraising activities are carried out by Sure employees.
As a provider of critical national infrastructure and a key employer on the island, Sure understands how important it is, during these unprecedented times, to come together and support the local community. Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak Sure has added an investment injection of £20,000 to the Foundation and is committed to matching any contributions made by staff or other fundraising, enabling the Foundation to have an even greater positive impact in Sure’s local communities.
Over the past few weeks in Guernsey, the foundation has provided support for children in secondary education who have no access to WiFi to help them continue their studies at home while the schools are shut. With many Guernsey residents now at home without access to friends and family, the Foundation has supported mobile WiFi via the charity We All Matter, Eh? and also gave help to a residential accommodation in which a number of the community had no ability to stay in touch with their loved ones during this challenging time. In addition, the Foundation has provided a free conference call facility to St Martins Church to allow up to 120 of the congregation to listen to daily and weekend services.
Karen Jagger of the Sure Community Foundation said: “The aim of the Foundation is to support local charities where we can really make a difference. We would like this to be just the start of our increased support over the coming months for those in need in our community who have been directly or indirectly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. During this unusual time it’s more important than ever, so we encourage all charities to reach out to us if they identify a need within our community, we want to support as much as we can.”
Separately to the Community Foundation, Sure has also provided additional support for its customers while Guernsey residents are affected by the ongoing situation with coronavirus. Sure is supplying free broadband upgrades to its customers currently using the basic broadband package; customers who use a Piper Lifeline service or who are on the Telephone Assistance Scheme (TAS) will have free local landline calls 24 hours a day; mobile and landline calls to the States of Guernsey’s COVID-19 advice lines (01481 756938 and 01481 756969) have been made free of charge and any islanders who are unable to return from overseas due to the outbreak will be supported with free roaming boosters and discounted roaming rates to ensure they can stay in touch with family and friends.
If you are interested in applying for funding, then visit the website: www.sure.com/guernsey/about-us/in-the-community/ or email CommunityFoundation@sure.com.
