CHARITY & COMMUNITY
Since 2011 when Bakers moved to new premises in Brentwood we have donated well in excess of £150,000 to charities and good causes.
Bakers Labels in the community
Bakers is the new title sponsors for the Brentwood Half Marathon 2024! Our athlete identifaction brand Sportstiks had previously been the sponsor since 2018. The Brentwood half marathon is a fantastic non-profit making event, organised by volunteers from the Rotary of Brentwood a Becket along with local charities and clubs. As part of the organising team we support throughout the build up to the event and on race day to bring a memorable experience for all entrants.
Kids Inspire has been one of Baker’s chosen charity since 2011 and has donated a total of around £100,000 to date to the charity.
Kids Inspire supports young people across Essex who are at an educational, social and/or economic disadvantage, for example, they might be experiencing relationship abuse, anxiety or be subject to bullying. The Charity mainly supports those recovering from trauma and/or dealing with emerging mental health issues.
Many young people are referred to Kids Inspire because other agencies consider them to be ‘too complex’ to help. Kids Inspire is capable of dealing with the most complex of cases and does not turn people away. The Charity has assisted Social Care in closing hundreds of cases.
In January 2017 Steve and Mandy Baker presented Rachael Basset from Kids Inspire a cheque for £5,000 to update and overhaul their IT system.
“We have supported different Kids Inspire projects for the last 5 years, each of which supported families and children directly sometimes in an emergency situation. This donation of £5,000 is a one off opportunity to help with the infrastructure of the charity, helping to strengthen the charity enough to take it to the next level. We’re very fortunate at Bakers to have access to the latest technology in IT systems and recognise the advantages this brings. We’re delighted to able to help the team at Kids Inspire” Steve Baker, Managing Director.
The Kids Inspire mentoring programme
Our Chief Happiness Officer, Mandy Baker volunteers for Kids Inspire as a child mentor offering support and guidance on a one-to-one basis. The Kids Inspire mentoring programme offers young people in need the chance to form a positive, trusting relationship with an adult role model – their mentor.
Mandy underwent comprehensive training before being carefully matched to a young person. The two met, usually for an hour a week, while Kids Inspire provides continued support and guidance. Mandy engaged the mentee in fun, everyday activities allowing him/her to feel valued and secure. To find out more about how you could help please visit the Kids Inspire website.
All the money we raise has always been needed to support the children’s projects. They will make a huge difference to the streamlining of projects and planning of grant applications. We’ve relied on donations of second hand or refurbished equipment in the past which often made the administration work labour intensive as they would be slow or unreliable. We already work so hard but with the new computers and IT system we’ll be able to work smarter. We can’t thank Bakers enough”. Rachael Basset, Kids Inspire
Since 2011 when Bakers moved to new premises in Brentwood we have donated well in excess of £350,000 to charities and good causes.
Special Needs And Parents
SNAP is an Essex Charity whose aim is to inform, encourage and support families with children and young people who have any special need or disability, allowing parents and carers to grow in strength and knowledge so they are better equipped to give the best possible help to their children. From its Brentwood base, SNAP offers a helping hand to thousands of families who need support. No formal diagnosis or professional referral is necessary to access SNAP services, available to families of children and young people aged 0 to 25. The charity’s vision is to provide a safe environment offering a wide range of support and specialist services with the aim to increase resilience and empowerment within our families. SNAP’s ethos is about strengthening all members of the family.
Registered Charity No.1077787
Parent Advice and Support
- Helpline (email & phone)
- Face to face parent support
- Specialist talks and training courses
- Library of specialist books and DVDs
- Website with SNAP directory of useful contacts
- Online information network
- Counselling
- Education advice sessions
Activities
- Parent and Pre-School Children’s Sessions
- Music, yoga, drama and activity groups
- Holiday sessions
- SNAP + (for older children and young people)
- Sibling support
- Multi-sensory room
- Specialist IT Suite
“Having you with us through this journey has been the thing that has held my little family together”
A parent of a child with special needs being supported by SNAP
“Without SNAP’s support I doubt I would understand my child at all. I could list so many things SNAP has given us as a family but most importantly you have given me the confidence to fight for my child. SNAP has given my child a chance for a brighter future. We are indebted to you all for understanding, supporting and encouraging.”
Brentwood Foodbank
Brentwood Foodbank was established in 2011 as a partnership between Breakthru Church and Dodd Road Community Church. Brentwood Foodbank works with a number of frontline care agencies to provide food parcels to the most vulnerable members of our community. The agencies that they work with hold vouchers that they are able to issue to their clients. The vouchers can then be redeemed at the Foodbank for a food parcel.
Each year more and more families rely on foodbanks. In 2019/20 approximately 1.9 million people used a foodbank in the UK and the Brentwood foodbank alone provided 1,088 three-day emergency food supplies to people in 2020. This sad reality shows how vital it is for foodbanks to have the support of their local communities and how much Bakers donations help them.
Sadly people in poor economic situations often have to chose between eating and heating their homes. The foodbank offers them reliefs during those difficult times and means they don’t have to go hungry.
Nobody should have to use a foodbank and many people that find themselves there would never have expected to. Unfortunately 1 in 4 people live under the poverty line in the UK. This means the Foodbank is such an important helping hand for so many people and their children.
“The foodbank was there when we really needed it, it was an absolute lifeline.”
“You guys are amazing. I want to say a huge ‘THANK YOU’ again for your amazing gift of £2000 to Brentwood Foodbank. We have been blessed by your generous gifts of food in the past and we do appreciate all that you do for those who are struggling in Brentwood.”
Julie at Brentwood Foodbank
Essex Wildlife Trust
The leading conservation charity, committed to protecting wildlife and inspiring a lifelong love of nature. Essex Wildlife Trust manage nature reserves and discovery parks across the county, providing outstanding outdoor education and preserving places of wonder.
Founded in 1959 by volunteers, they protect over 8,400 acres of land across 87 sites and are supported by 39,000 members. This now includes Baker Labels as Corporate Platiunmum Members.
Landscape conservation
The Landscape Conservation team at Essex Wildlife Trust are implementing the Trust’s vision for the future through optimum management of their own land and through working with others in Living Landscapes and Living Seas areas. These are focus areas with the potential to better connect wildlife and people and opportunities to collaborate with many other organisations and individuals who share their ambitions for the future. Baker Labels will be collaborating with Essex Wildlife Trust on future conservation projects.
“Becoming a Corporate Member a great way to engage staff with what’s going on with the environment, the benefits of being in nature and things they can do themselves. It’s that kind of information that we can share with staff.”
Essex Wildlife Trust
Aching Arms
Aching Arms provides comfort to people in their darkest moments. They support families who have lost a baby during pregnancy, birth or soon after. They currently work with over 170 hospitals, hospices and funeral directors by providing comfort bears. Nurses and midwives can then give them to bereaved parents. Parents can also directly request a comfort bear to be sent to them. In 2022 Aching Arms donated 5,000 bears to parents. Along with providing bears they also offer support services and raise awareness.
In 2021 Aching Arms approached Bakers to ask for help with their new packaging. Previously they had been sending the bears in postal bags, but wanted to make it even more special by sending them in a ‘bear box’. Bakers was pleased to support the charity, by providing branded address labels and logo stickers for the tissue paper wrapping.
Since that initial first contact Bakers has continued to donate to the charity. Bakers donations have gone towards the charity’s support services Supporting Arms, especially their Bereaved Dads support group. The group have also been working on a ‘Men’s Survival Guide – Dads supporting other Dads’, that they hope to circulate with others.
“Thank you so much for the labels and stickers, they are wonderful again. We had our first Dad’s group this week and it went really well, lots of Dads said it was the first time they had been able to talk about their baby so thank you to Baker Labels for making this possible.”
Lindsay Carpenter-Oliver from Aching Arms
