Bankers row, ride and rummage for Hospiscare
Fourteen bankers spent a day lending a helping hand at Hospiscare’s Enterprise Centre (HEC) recently, before bouncing, wheeling and paddling down Exeter Quay to raise money for the local charity.
The team from RBS swapped spreadsheets and suits for Ebay and second-hand clothing to spend a day alongside staff and volunteers at the HEC, processing the donations and house clearance items which are brought to the Trusham Road site every day.
The team then got together just a few days later to take part in a marathon challenge along Exeter Quay, coming up with a whole host of weird and wonderful ways to complete the distance.
RBS Relationship Manager Matt Stevenson said: “The day at the Quay was a team event where various modes of transport, from walking to space hopping to kayaking were used. We covered a total distance of around 120 miles.”
The colleagues undertook the marathon challenge following their successful day at the HEC where they raised a massive £8,100 for Hospiscare.
The RBS team, who cover Devon, Cornwall and Somerset, set up the volunteering day and marathon event after deciding they wanted to do more charitable work within the local community.
Hospiscare opened its Enterprise Centre in 2012 to help raise the funds needed to support people with life-threatening illnesses in Exeter, mid and east Devon, as well as providing support to families.
A house clearance service, a recycling partnership with Exeter University, private collections and direct donations provide the HEC with its vast array of stock, which is then processed and prepared for resale before being sold direct from the HEC’s on-site furniture and electrical shop, from one of the charity’s 19 shops or from Hospiscare’s Ebay and Amazon accounts.
RBS Corporate Director Craig Cabot spent his time at the HEC researching into the retail values of donated DVDs and CDs which would later be sold online, but usually spends his working day looking after £1m businesses.
He said: “I enjoyed it; I could see instantly how much money we were generating by putting it onto the website. We found some gems – my colleague Matt found a DVD that was worth £67.
“I was impressed with the way the HEC is organised; it could be a case of getting donations in bags, which then get labelled up to be sold in a shop for what they could get, but it’s run far more professionally and efficiently than that.”
“We’re grateful to Hospiscare for letting us come in and help. RBS does lots of stuff with national charities but we wanted to do something more local.
RBS Healthcare Manager Nick Connors said: “When we were touring the HEC we were exceptionally quiet because we were in awe of the size of te operation and how slick it is.
“The only experience we’ve all got of Hospiscare and similar charities is of the shops and you think it starts and ends there – you don’t appreciate the magnitude of something like this going on.”
Hospiscare Stock Control Supervisor Pete Webb said: “It’s fantastic that such a huge corporation can find the time to send some of their senior staff to raise money for Hospiscare. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we loved having them here.”
