The Commonwealth Games commencing today (24 July) certainly helps to focus the mind on fitness, team performance and achieving goals. Well, it might not be quite as high profile but our colleagues across the COBA International group have been doing their bit to keep fit, while working in teams to raise money for charity.
Our efforts enabled us to present a cheque for £517.91 to a very worthy ‘life saving’ local charity in the Leicestershire area. This donation was made to Mr Alan Philips who as Chairman accepted the cheque on behalf of Take Heart Leicester, a charity supporting cardiac wards at Leicester’s Glenfield Hospital.
This was made possible by a fundraising initiative instigated by our COBA Staff Forum (a team of staff representatives across different departments within the COBA organisation who share ideas and information to benefit employees across the group).
The initiative was called Challenge SK and involved various departmental teams participating in a ‘virtual walk’ from the UK to Slovakia (1000 miles no less!), and then back again to Fleckney. Well we must admit we didn’t literally embark on the walk (that would have meant a distinct lack of floor matting being manufactured and sold for the month of May!), but we did measure our steps using pedometers to ensure each team walked the equivalent distance.
Fourteen teams took part in Challenge SK. Each team added up the total number of steps and progress was monitored and reported to me (Hiten Patel) in our COBA marketing department. It was actually COBA Europe’s Sales Team and Warehouse who won the challenge, so well done to them. There were no medals, but they were awarded with a shield for their efforts.
COBA Europe Sales Team
COBA Europe Warehouse Team
The money raised for Take Heart Leicester will help provide equipment for the cardiac department at Glenfield Hospital which is not otherwise available from the NHS. It also supports medical staff grants for further education and training, as well as funding research into more effective treatment.
British Heart Foundation statistics quote “collectively, heart and circulatory diseases cause more than a quarter of deaths in the UK, accounting for more than 161,000 deaths per year.”
Anyone wishing to donate or get involved with Take Heart Leicester should visit www.takeheartleicester.co.uk
