Dodd Group employees have leapt on the opportunity to help lonely older people after choosing Re-engage as their charity of the year.

Staff at the Building Services Engineering and Property Maintenance company, based in Telford, Shropshire, have abseiled down a six-storey building, joined an activity group, and signed up to be Call Companions.

The employees chose Re-engage after deciding they wanted to support a charity that wants to reduce isolation among older people. Elena Reis, the company’s Social Value Manager, said: “We did some investigating and found Re-engage. That’s when we saw the brilliant work you are doing.  We were deeply impressed by the impact you have for a relatively small charity through your social activities. We love working with you and our staff have really got behind you with their support.”

Dodd Group has an annual turnover of £250m and 23 offices, each with its own charity ambassador. The Smethwick branch has already raised over £1,500 through a raffle, and the same amount from from Stockport where Senior Administrator, Jessica Sykes, and colleague, Gaynor Dyos-Acton abseiled nearly 400 feet down an office block in the town.  It took them around 90 seconds to reach the bottom during which time they had raised £1,510 – triple the original target.

Jessica said: “Your charity does such important work that we were really pleased to be able to do some fundraising. I loved the abseiling but it was quite a hefty distance down! We got a lot of support from people, including many sub-contractors. In fact, we were really gobsmacked by the response.”

Damien Steward, who has been with the company for 15 years and is Branch Manager of the Stockport branch, joined a Re-engage activity group in Cheadle. He said: “It was lovely to meet the people you help. They all looked very happy and it was good to see your work in practice. I’m absolutely 100 per cent behind the charity.”

Dodd Group is also encouraging staff to sign up as Call Companions and is contributing £300 for each staff member - up to 10 - who volunteers for the call befriending service.

Ali Winter, Senior Corporate Partnerships Manager at Re-engage, said: “Fantastic collaborations such as this one with Dodd Group allow us to support many older people who sadly have very little social contact and are often isolated from the outside world. It’s marvellous to see the way Dodd Group staff have thrown themselves into supporting us and we’d like to thank them for their magnificent efforts.”