Grundfos Groundforce keeps everything in the garden rosy
The Grundfos Groundforce is transforming the gardens of an accommodation centre for homeless armed services veterans.
Employees from the firm’s Sunderland site have been travelling to Sacriston to make over the gardens at the Single Homeless: Action Initiative in Durham (SHAID), which provides accommodation for former services personnel.
The scheme is the brainchild of Brian Hopper, a manufacturing operator at the Castletown plant who served 11 years in the Army.
“As part of a recent staff development day, we assembled some flat-packed furniture for SHAID and visited the centre,” he said.
“The gardens were in need of some attention and I suggested Grundfos could help.
“It just felt right to give something back, and the response from the workforce has been immense,” he added.
The first team of eight Grundfos employees spent an afternoon weeding, digging, sweeping and clearing.
“We had a massive response from the workforce when we put the call-out and the grounds at St Peter’s Court in Sacriston are already looking so much better because of the Grundfos Groundforce.
“It was a great idea from Brian and he’s passionate about helping others,” said Catherine Attwell, HR Director at Grundfos.
“We want the former service people who use the centre to feel at home there and improving the surrounding gardens and environment should help them to get that feelgood factor about the place,” she added.
The team are being given paid time off to complete the work and the furniture assembled is already being used in St Peter’s Court new family apartments.
SHAID manager Tony Hammond said: “We very much appreciated the efforts of the Grundfos team – they got through so much work in one afternoon and further visits are planned. The difference is amazing.”