Case Study - Cargill
Silver Award Winner of 2011 Community Partnership Awards: Local community
Cargill Manchester and Henshaws Society for Blind People
Cargill, Manchester, supports a number of community projects
through giving time, expertise and fi nancing. Employees are
offered two paid hours per month to volunteer for a local
organisation. Its partnership with Henshaw's involves Cargill
employees spending time working with the school's education
programme.
Nineteen volunteer employees work in four groups to support
Henshaw activities including an arts and crafts class, IT training
and two friendship and activity clubs for older people. They
also assist with days out, helping to describe the environment
to the participants. All Cargill employees working on the project
receive visual impairment awareness training, a certifi cate course,
and work on a rota basis, interacting with visually impaired
people ranging from the very young to 102 years old!
The latest project between Cargill and Henshaw's has seen the
funding and creation of a sensory garden for the visually
impaired at the Yew Tree Lane residential home. As well as
providing a calming environment for users, some of whom also
have emotional diffi culties, they can also take on their own jobs
to help look after the garden.
Cargill has also extended its work with Henshaw's to offer work
placements to two visually impaired people, in delivery planning
and on reception, and it's hoped that the skills gained will be
confi dence boosters for those involved.
More Information
View all the winning Community Partnership Awards case studies (2011)