Dowds Group reached the company’s 40th year in business in 2018 and, to celebrate this milestone, the team aimed to raise £40,000 to distribute across four different charities.
Dowds not only reached the target, but the company exceeded it. With donations still coming in Dowds is sure to hit £60,000! The four charities selected by Dowds staff for the company’s ’40 for Forty’ campaign are the Electrical Industries Charity, Macmillan Cancer Support, AWARE NI and The Boom Foundation, each with a meaningful decision behind why they were chosen.
EIC supports the electrical industry with well-being solutions to transform and rebuild the lives of people by offering support programmes for apprentices, employees and their families and pensioner support. This is a charity that is held close to Dowds’ hearts, especially after the support it provided for the family of a former Dowds employee who sadly passed in 2014.
Macmillan has millions of supporters, professionals, volunteers and campaigners who give support, energy and inspiration back to individuals and families of those who have battled cancer. With support services throughout the UK, including centres close to Dowds’ three offices in Ballymoney, Belfast and London, so many people have experienced in some way the help Macmillan can provide. Due to this, Dowds wanted to take opportunity to give a little back for the help they have provided to so many of us.
Dowds Group has worked with AWARE for a number of years, availing of advice and guidance in the prevention and treatment of mental ill-health.
It is an unfortunate fact that the construction industry suffers a higher incidence of mental illness than any other industry in the UK. As well as providing support services, AWARE delivers mental health and well-being programmes into communities, schools, colleges, universities and workplaces, such as Dowds.
Finally, The Boom Foundation is the only charity in NI supporting patients with Sarcoma. 50% of the charity’s money goes towards Sarcoma UK research and the other 50% goes directly to benefiting the patients. All the work of The Boom Foundation is voluntary with no overheads. Dowds staff member, Carolyn McKiernan, experienced first-hand the support and help Boom offers which is why Dowds Group wanted to take this opportunity to give back to Boom. With the four charities selected, Dowds Group planned and held a number of events which took place throughout the year. The 40 for Forty campaign got off to a successful start in December 2017 with a Christmas at the Races event with Malone Lighting as the main sponsor of the event at the Elk, Toomebridge.
Following on in April, a fun-filled Family Fun Day was held at Joey Dunlop Centre, Ballymoney with Unitrunk Cable Trunking Systems as main sponsor. After months of dedicated training, Dowds Director, Brian Cunning, conquered his Everest Base Camp Trek reaching Base Camp after 9 long, hard days of trekking! In the same month, a number of Dowds staff bravely tackled Run Mucker Run and the Belfast Marathon in May.
Dowds then started the summer with a superb Golf Day tournament on what was one of the hottest days of the year in June. Whitecroft Lighting was the main sponsor of the event and along with 30 ‘Four Ball’ teams and different sponsors at each hole, the event was a great success. In July, Director Bryan Armstrong completed an epic mountain biking challenge ‘The Crossing’, taking on 200 miles over 3 intense days.
Dowds recently held the finale event, The Gala, on Friday, October 19 at Galgorm Resort & Spa that rounded off this magnificent campaign – turn to page 22 for full details of this event. James Dowds, Managing Director, Dowds Group, said, “We are overwhelmed by the generosity that everyone has shown in backing our 40 for Forty campaign.
So to our own staff, the local communities we work in and to the wider construction industry, we want to say a huge thank you for everyone’s support.
“As well as raising money for these four important charities, this year has has been an opportunity to look back and recognise the hard work and dedication of all our employees, past and present, over the last 40 years and we are all looking forward to a successful future.”
Dowds Group, Head Office, 2-4 Milltown Road, Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, BT53 6LE
T: 028 2766 2789
E: info@dowdsgroup.com
W: www.dowdsgroup.com
