Making adifferenceto localpeople

Thanks to our patrons and donors we’vesmashed our ambitious fundraising target of£100,000 and are heading towards generating£180,000 - all for the benefit of Teesside. Thisstartling achievement is a symbol of, and tributeto, the local passion, pride and patriotism ourpatrons feel and share. Their interest andgenerosity are a huge boost to everyone duringthis time of uncertainty.

I know it's a cliché but the phrase ‘when the going gets tough - the toughget going’ embodies the spirit of those who've backed this charity andare willing to show some leadership and grit - just when others mostneed help. I have a feeling that in years to come we'll look back on thisand recognise that Teesside did something really great through thisperiod of adversity.

Our Jobs for Teesside Strategy formulated with the University of Teesside isgoing live just as youth unemployment is reaching frightening levels - ourgoal is to help create around 150 additional jobs for unemployed Teessideyoungsters over the next couple of years - read more about this inside.

There is a huge range of folk I'd like to thank for their part in this project but Iwant to keep this bit short. You'll see though that throughout this newsletterthe names of individuals and companies crop up - all of them are stars!Again our patrons drive everything we do - please read the list of patrons(on the back page) and appreciate their contribution to our area.

We'll be publishing another newsletter in February - I'm confident we'll haveeven more great stories to report!

Talk soon,Andy PrestonChairman

it’s been an

start!amazing

Contents

welcome

2-3welcomeWe’re not doing things byhalves, read more about ourbig plans for the future.

4-7who’s been helpedReal help for real people read moreabout some of the individuals andgroups who’ve benefitted from theFoundation’s help.

8-9our patronsThey make us what we are.We shine a spotlight on some ofthose who have supported us.

Lord Black of Brentwood & Foundationtrustee Mark Bolland, at our first annualdinner, see page 10

The White Knights provide a vitalemergency courier service to the NHS, find outmore about their great work on page 7

You can find out more byvisiting teessidecharity.org.uk

Andy Preston, Chairman

2

£180,000 Spread the word...

Why becomea patron?Our patrons are the lifeblood of the Foundation.They provide not only themoney but also the driveto help us create a charitythat will be a model forothers to follow.

Anyone can give money (perhaps not asgenerously as our patrons) but it’s anadded bonus to be genuinely involvedand to know that your commitment isactually changing lives.

It is about offering vital help tocommunity groups that matter to youand it’s also about providing jobs andfutures for young people. Lastly it’sabout knowing you are doing your partand feeling good about doing it!

We have patrons from all over the worldincluding Hong Kong and the USA –and look forward to their continuedinvolvement. Some of our patrons arefeatured in this newsletter – all of themare hugely valued and thanked.

Our aim is to take the Foundation evenfurther, for example by extending ourapprenticeships/jobs project which aimsto get those seen as the farthest awayfrom being employable into work.

We are also planning more fundraisingevents – not least another dinnerfollowing our successful TransporterBridge Centenary event held in October.Not only was this a chance for patronsto get together and celebrate theoutstanding success of the Foundationin its first year but also to raise afantastic amount of money.

We’re also pulling together otherfundraising ideas and any input is morethan welcome.

Our charity needs you!Our success so far has been down to thehard work dedication and support of ourpatrons and trustees who have offered theirtime, expertise and financial help.

So if you’re interested in getting involvedand joining us as a patron – just get in touch via the

patron’s page on our website, www.teessidecharity.org.uk.

So how canyou help?It’s easy. You or your company could become a patron.Your support would directly benefit individuals and organisationsacross the Tees Valley who are in need of help and assistance.

Or maybe you know a novel way of raisingmoney or have an ingenious fundraising planto share. You or your company could holdfundraising events or pledge time orservices to help us achieve our goals.

Join our Facebook and Twitter groupsand share the good work andinspirational stories with all of yourfriends.

Or maybe you know somebody whoneeds help. A project, a club or a groupwho you think deserves a boost.

You could use the Foundation’s ‘Twibbon’on your Facebook or Twitter account togive a visual show of support via thepower of social mediaand add the Foundationlogo and weblink to yourcompany website.

Thanks to the generosity of our patrons wesmashed our initial fundraising target of£100,000 and are heading towards

generating a staggering

Joe Whittingham - one of the first young people to benefit from the Foundation jobs scheme. Read his story on page 6

All of these simple things spread the word and raiseawareness of the Foundation which makes a positive impactto helping us recruit new patrons, new supporters and vitalambassadorship. Whatever you think you can help with pleaseget in touch. Contact Andy Preston on 07922 478994 or visitteessidecharity.org.uk.

3

‘The Royal Sapphires’ - s

ee page 9

here’s someof the peop

le we’ve helped...

Patron PowerThe generosity and commitment ofour patrons is helping to shine aspotlight on Teesside for all the rightreasons - from the willingness togive, to the strength of commitmentof private sector businesses and thearea’s own ambitions for a bettermore positive future.

4

When we learned that some of Teesside'skids will get no presents this Christmas wewanted to find a way of reaching them andmaking a difference - to make sure that thisfestive season was a special one.

“I am so pleased to be involved in this -making 150 of our poorest kids smile onChristmas Day is brilliant!"

Paul Davison, Erimus Insurance Brokers

So we have donated £5,250 - enoughto make sure that 150 of the area’smost deprived youngsters wake up toa decent present on Christmas Daythis year.

Charity patron Paul Davison of ErimusInsurance Brokers said: "I am sopleased to be involved in this - making150 of our poorest kids smile onChristmas Day is brilliant!

“We are delighted to help this greatproject and just hope that the 150 kidsour presents reach have a great time -throughout the whole of the holidayseason.”

We talked with local radio stationTFM about their 'cash for kids’present appeal and were amazed atthe good work they do.

TFM has been working with groupslike Barnardo's, social services andlocal education services to identify thekids most at risk of losing out thisChristmas. It then promotes andmanages the gathering of donationsof presents and uses them to make adifference to needy kids acrossTeesside.

The positive impact of this initiativewas plain to see and we knewimmediately that we wanted to getbehind it and support as much as wecould - who doesn’t want to help achild smile?

Case Study 1TFM’s Cash for Kids Presents Appeal

£5,250donated by the Foundation

5

MAKINGLOCALKIDSSMILE

A footontheladder

Youth unemployment in the UK has topped the one million mark withmuch talk of a ‘lost generation’. The Foundation wanted to dosomething about this. To take action and help by using its funds to paytowards apprenticeships and job creation, helping those furthest awayfrom the labour market - whatever the stumbling block.

The Foundation will now paytowards ten placements this yearwith 50 more in the offing over thenext 12 months. Its ambition is tocreate 150 such apprenticeshipsover two years.

One of the first young people to begiven the chance to put a foot on theemployment ladder by theMiddlesbrough and TeessidePhilanthropic Foundation is JoeWhittingham.

Joe, 20, found himself stuck in thenightmare ‘no experience, no job, -no job, no experience’ cycle due toillness after being diagnosed withCrohn’s disease while a student atMiddlesbrough College.

He had been unemployed sinceleaving college where he studiedICT, media and photography atBTEC level.

“I applied for between 50 and 60 jobsand just didn’t get anywhere – it wasvery disheartening. The lack ofexperience is a vicious circle and youstart to feel really bad about yourself.

“So I’m really pleased to have beenoffered this chance – I can’t think of abetter way to spend charity money atthe moment,” said Joe who is nowworking at Redcar and ClevelandCredit Union in Dormanstown.

Patron Paul Bury of Endeavour said:“Joe is exactly the type of person weare looking to help – he is motivatedand perfectly capable of holding downa good job once he can get past thecircumstances that have conspired tostand in his way.

“Our apprenticeship programme isinnovative and shows the commitmentof our patrons who have given themoney to pay for this initiative.

“This is exactly the type of solutionbased thinking the UK needs at themoment – we are leading the way forother areas of the country to follow.”

Joe Whittingham hard at work andgaining invaluable experience at theRedcar and Cleveland Credit Union

Joe Whittingham and Luke Anderson - The Foundation’s first placements.

Another recipient is 20-year-old LukeAnderson who was once homelessand whose situation meant hecouldn’t find work. Now theapprenticeship will give him what healways wanted – a chance.

Luke said. “I really just wanted achance to get a job but mysituation brought me up againsta brick wall every time.Homelessness seems to bean obstacle that’s extremelyhard to get over when you’retrying to convince people togive you a place on a trainingscheme or a job. It’s been atotal Catch 22 situation. I amloving my apprenticeship and feelextremely lucky that at the end of it I’llbe more likely to be seriouslyconsidered for a long term job.”

Paul added: “We are really committedto giving our patrons the charitableequivalent of ‘lifetime value for money’by helping young people gain theskills that they need to get a job andtake charge of their lives. Theapprenticeship schemes are a greatway of achieving that.

“This is about much more thanmoney - by next summer the jobsscheme will have offered fifty youngpeople the one thing that moneycan’t buy - hope for the future.”

Case Study 2The Foundation Jobs Scheme

6

White Knights Emergency Voluntary Serviceis a charity which provides an out-of-hours courierservice on Teesside for blood or any other vitalmedical supplies to support the NHS couriersystem.

WhiteKnightsin shiningarmour

Volunteer treasurer and loyal

White Knights supporter Mark Say

devotes much of this time to

the White Knights charity.

Run entirely by volunteers andfunded purely by donations, thecharity had to raise £10,000 to bringthe free courier service to the area.The Foundation read about theservice and the appeal for funds anddecided to help.

It donated £4850 to the charity.

The White Knights now use astandard motorcycle which has beentransformed into a life-saving BloodBike complete with blue flashing lightand a specialist medical container onthe back to deliver blood and othervital items out of hours for NHShospitals and medical centres.

As a free service it allows funds fromthe NHS to go straight back in topatient care. The volunteers are nowon call from 7pm to 7am 365 days-a-year. So far the service has provedinvaluable: saving lives and helpingout on more than 30 ‘blue light’emergencies.

Charity patron Mick Flynn of Unasyssaid: “This is an absolutely fantasticservice, which not only benefits localpeople but provides a fast andefficient out of hours delivery service.

“The White Knights are anotherexample of a perfect fit for theFoundation and our communityvalues. Everything they do is for thelocal community which is why wechose to support them and the life-saving service they provide.”

Mark Say said: “To know that you arepotentially saving someone’s life is afantastic thing. We just want theservice to grow, and with support fromthe public and organisation’s like theFoundation it will.”

Case Study 3White Knights Emergency Voluntary Service

£4,850donated by the Foundation

DO YOU KNOW OF A PROJECT, CLUB OR GROUP THATDESERVES HELP? Contact Andy Preston on 07922 478994or visit teessidecharity.org.uk.

7

“The aim of sponsoringthe White Knights was to

save lives, save money andhelp local people”

Tanya Garland, Cool Blue PR

We could achieve nothing without our patrons they are the sole reason forour success. In each edition of this newsletter we will focus on a handful ofthe companies who are making the Foundation a success.

“It’s great to learn about the projects the Foundationis supporting, to hear the success stories and know thatyou were part of it and have helped achieve somethinggenuinely good.”

VisualsofteCommercedirectors areproud of theirlocal roots.

‘Eyes down’ forDevereux’s Russ

Devereux and EndeavourPartnership’s Jamie

Brown with the Stokesleypensioners.

Strength in

Dean Benson, Director - Visualsoft eCommerce

8

£1,000donated by the Foundation

VisualsoftBased in Stockton-On-Tees,Visualsoft eCommerce is an award-winning web design company withmore than a decade of experience,specialising in ecommerce websolutions.

With a strong policy of recruiting stafflocally, Middlesbrough and TeessidePhilanthropic Foundation was anobvious choice when it was selectinga local charity to support.

Director Dean Benson said: “We try torecruit the majority of our staff locallybecause we are very focused ongiving local people opportunities.

“So being part of an organisationwhich supports the area and helps toimprove people’s lives in the NorthEast appealed to us.

“We’ve always been involved withcharities. The staff and the directorshave donated to, or been part of,many charitable events and activitiesas it’s important to us as a companyto give something back to thecommunity.

“It’s great to learn about the projectsthe Foundation is supporting, to hearthe success stories and know that youwere part of it and have helpedachieve something genuinely good.”

Davies Tracey & Co.Davies Tracey & Co. is a leadingTees Valley based firm of charteredaccountants and business advisers,offering proactive professionalbusiness and taxation advicesince 2002.

The company is also a patron of theMiddlesbrough and TeessidePhilanthropic Foundation.

More commonly known for itsbusiness skills and moneymanagement than its charity work,you may wonder what made a firm ofaccountants decide to dedicate theirtime and money to a philanthropicorganisation?

Ian Tracey, one of the foundingpartners of Davies Tracey & Co.explained: “We are passionate aboutthe work the Foundation is doing andthe scope for future investment in thearea.

“We have always donated to variouscharitable organisations but it’salways been on a very ad-hoc basis.

“This is different. We wanted to givesomething back to our local area andwe were fully on board with that. At itscore the Foundation is just a reallygood idea, it’s people givingsomething back to the area they liveand work in - and hopefully making ita better place.”

GlanbiaTHE MIDDLESBROUGH-baseddivision of Irish nutrition giantGlanbia has lent its support to theFoundation – most recently helpingGrangetown based marching band‘The Royal Sapphires’ via theFoundation.

The Riverside Park company, whichproduces ingredients for a range ofhigh street brands, including slimmingpowders and nutrition bars, from its36,000 sq ft site, helped the band tobuy a new glockenspiel to add extraharmony to their playing.

General manager Keith Burn is veryproud to be involved with theFoundation. He said: “Glanbia hasbeen based in Middlesbrough for anumber of years, our roots are veryfirmly placed here and a lot of ourstaff are local.

“That’s why we like to support localcauses too. The PhilanthropicFoundation is a great way of doingthis and it means we can spread oursupport – it’s not just one charity ororganisation we’re helping, we’reliterally helping people across theTees Valley.”

Thanks toeveryone for all

of your help!

“... it’s not just one charity or organisationwe’re helping, we’re literally helping peopleacross the Tees Valley.”

Devereux TransportIndependent, family-owned haulierDevereux Transport of Billingham, isone of the latest additions to thegrowing band of patrons.

Founded in 1946 it was predominantlya domestic removals, shipping andstorage business up until the late1970’s. The main focus for thebusiness operation is now generalhaulage and pallet distribution and thefirm employs 170 local people.

The pioneering company pledged itssupport for the Foundation and one ofthe first groups to benefit was a localgroup of pensioners. The Stokesleybased OAP group, which is a reallifeline for its members with many ofthem relying on the group for their onlyregular social contact. It has used thefunding to secure its weekly bingosessions until 2012.

Russ Devereux said: “The Stokesleygroup deserve some help and we’rereally pleased that we’ve been able tocontribute towards their weekly bingosessions.

“Working with the Foundation meanswe can help a whole range of peopleand good causes so we’re very proudto be involved with such an inspiringorganisation and group of people.”

The RoyalSapphires sharetheir delight withGlanbia’s Keith

Burn.

numbersRuss Devereux - Devereux Transport

Keith Burn - Glanbia

“Working with the foundation means we can help a whole range ofpeople and good causes so we’re very proud to be involved with such an

inspiring organisation and group of people.”

If you are interested in becoming a patron and helping local people and local communities pleaseget in touch. Call Andy Preston on 07922 478994 or visit our website www.teessidecharity.org.uk

9

£1,000donated by the Foundation Patrons featured in

our next issue:Erimus Insurance Brokers,Unasys, K Home Internationaland Steve Nichols

£15,000

Acclaimed Middlesbroughartist Mackenzie Thorpegenerously donated

an originalartwork, raising

The first annualMiddlesbrough and

TeessidePhilanthropic

Foundation dinnerwas an overwhelming

succeess.

to our main sponsorsTees Valley Unlimited,

Double 11 andRamsdens.

SpecialThanks

100thAnniversary of thetown’s landmarkTransporterBridge

Your generositywill help fundmany localgood causes.

Transportofdelight

What could be a better way to spend anevening than in a roomful of people, gladrags on, raising heaps of cash for localgood causes - and having a great timeinto the bargain.

The first annual Middlesbrough andTeesside Philanthropic Foundation dinnerwas an overwhelming success with peopledigging deeply into their pockets, dancingthe night away and raising an amazing£41,500 – and providing exactly the rightevent to make it a spectacular doublecelebration of not only the Foundation butalso the 100th anniversary of the town’siconic Transporter Bridge.

In fact the dinner mirrored a similar eventheld at the historic Middlesbrough TownHall exactly 100 years earlier tocommemorate the opening of the bridge.

More than £15,000 of the event’sproceeds were generated by an extremelygenerous donation from Middlesbroughborn artist Mackenzie Thorpe of an originalartwork ‘The Lady of the North’ - whichevocatively depicts the Transporter Bridgeand was bought by ‘exiled’ Teessider MattSheridan of Surrey.

Mackenzie and his wife Sue were on handto be part of the auction which wasaccompanied by a passionate speechabout his pride in the North East and aroof raising, rallying cry of ‘Up the Boro’.

With lots of other auction prizes up forgrabs, including Ramsdens’ speciallyminted gold coins, a life-time golden ticketto travel on the Transporter Bridge, aRiverside corporate match day experienceand team building days - the auction wasa flurry of generously intended armwaving and nods.

In fact the event was such a success thatthe next one is already being planned forOctober 2012.

Of course we’re setting a challenge tobeat the magnificent total that weachieved this year – and look forward toseeing you there!

Details of the next dinner will be on ourwebsite in the New Year.

A comprehensive gallery ofphotographs taken on thenight is featured on ourwebsite and Facebook page.

“...an overwhelming success withpeople digging deeply into theirpockets, dancing the night awayand raising an amazing £41,500”

£41,500was raised atthe event.

An amazing

Lots of uniqueauction prizeswere up forgrabs.

Join us fornext year’sevent!

Thanks toeveryonewho camealong!

The generosity and commitment of the trustees andpatrons is helping to shine a spotlight on Teesside for all theright reasons - from the willingness to give, to the strengthof our private sector businesses and the area’s ambitions for

a more positive future.

www.teessidecharity.org.ukDesign by Cool Blue www.coolblue.co.uk

Mark Bolland

Our patrons

Our trustees

Steve Dobson

RobMcLaughlinJohnMcCullagh

Andy Preston

Ali Miremadi Steve Nichols

Sizer Family

Barney Ord Ian Parker

Nigel Williams

Boho One

Andy Preston, Tanya Garland, Mark Bolland, John McCullagh

Nigel Williams

• STOP PRESS • • NEW PATRON •

• STOP PRESS • • NEW TRUSTEE •

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