Despite limitations on recent fundraising events due to Covid-19, Deloitte Jersey has managed to raise £5,845 for charity partner Every Child Our Future (ECOF).
Last June, Deloitte began a three-year collaboration with local charity ECOF as part of Deloitte’s One Million Futures initiative. ECOF, in partnership with the States of Jersey Department of Education, helps local primary school children across 19 schools to improve their reading or numeracy skills.
The charity also coordinates over 500 individual and corporate volunteers who regularly read with children. Deloitte recently piloted the numeracy programme with ECOF and one of the local schools, a service being supported even further throughout the coming year with additional schools being added and more volunteers trained up.
So far, 30 trained volunteers from Deloitte’s Jersey office have spent a total of 365 hours engaged in various activities with the charity, and a total of £3,345 has been raised through raffles, bingo events and online donations by individuals in the business.
The total was then increased by the Deloitte NWE firm, which generously donated £2,500 via the Charities Age Foundation in recognition of this year’s challenging financial circumstances.
Aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Deloitte’s One Million Futures initiative focuses on reducing inequality and helping people to overcome barriers to education and employment. It aims to support people to get to where they want to be, through access to education and employment, raising aspirations, improving skills and developing leaders.
Siobhan Durcan, Partner at Deloitte Jersey, said: “Coronavirus created unprecedented challenges for all. Through this difficult time, what became clear was that in a time of crisis, the power of community should not be underestimated. At the outset of the lockdown, we saw an overwhelming desire and commitment from our people to support the local community by helping people at home, launching different funding campaigns and more.
“We wanted to ensure our local charity partner would survive and thrive beyond Covid-19, to continue supporting their learning programmes at a time when they are needed most. We launched a Coronavirus Fundraising Appeal with Deloitte colleagues and their generosity enabled us to raise these essential funds to support our community through ECOF. ECOF as our charity partner plays a vital role in Jersey’s society. We would like to continue our support through expanding our volunteering activities in order for us to serve the community and make a positive impact that matters”.
Lucy Le Poidevin, Programmes Manager, Every Child Our Future, said: “We are thankful to Deloitte for their generous donation during this unprecedented challenge and lockdown period. Many children have fallen behind due to the school closures this year, and this money will help us fund children through our Reading Recovery programme and supporting the extension of our numeracy programme. The Reading Recovery programme helps primary school children who have serious struggles with literacy to catch up with their peers and, more importantly, stay there”.
