Island Roads lends a hand at Aspire

Posted on: June 22, 2019 at 2:29 pm
Picture shows from l-r Louise Randall, Island Roads highways electrician Tim Fuller and contact centre advisor Darren Vaughan

Island Roads volunteers have given a welcome helping hand to the Aspire community project in Ryde.

Nine employees from across the company spent a day completing a number of tasks under Island Roads’ volunteering scheme in which staff are encouraged to take paid leave in order to work with local good causes.

One such cause is the Aspire project in Ryde which works with partner organisations to bring people and services together with the aim of transforming lives and giving people the best chance in life.

Already Aspire has been assisted with an £11,600 grant from the Isle of Wight Foundation, a charitable trust made up of the partners in Island Roads. That money was used to create a new office and IT suite at the project which runs from the former Holy Trinity Church in Dover Street, Ryde.

Louise Randall, place co-ordinator at Aspire said she was delighted with the latest assistance from Island Roads.

The team completed various jobs including clearing space by relocating some bicycles collected for a charity project, moving some previously removed (and very heavy) pews, installing a new CCTV camera, removing the electrics from the church’s old boiler and also fix a light in the disabled toilet.

“We are over the moon with the help Island Roads have given us. We rely on volunteer assistance and to have the Island Roads team for a day helped us undertaken a lot of work that we simply would not have been able to do on our own. We are really grateful and would love to have them back again.”

Island Roads control room operative Emma Stevenson used to run a play group from the building and has remained a keen supporter of Aspire.

She said: “Having been involved in helping the project get the Isle of Wight Foundation grant, it was great to be able to continue Island Roads’ assistance by organising the volunteering day.”