Authored by Ansvar Insurance
Just over six months ago Ansvar Insurance joined The Hygiene Bank Charity army and became area co-ordinators for Eastbourne.
With the Covid-19 outbreak escalating, never has our work in the community been more important. We have been working very hard to help as many people as we can when hygiene is even more important than ever.
Just before ‘lock down’ in one day we organised donations of soap, disposable gloves, shampoo and antibacterial sprays totalling over 220kg to local charities including Kids Count, Eastbourne Emergency Support, Farnon Care Homes, Eastbourne Foodbank and Hailsham Foodbank.
Ansvar Insurance set up the Eastbourne arm of The Hygiene Bank, by bringing our local community together to co-ordinate a local response to a local need. Since we launched in September, we have collected 1008kg of donated hygiene products which has been distributed to charity partners such as charities supporting the homeless, women’s refuges and charities specialising in helping people get back to work.
We have worked tirelessly to raise the profile of the charity by taking part in various events (media and fundraising), fully supported by Ansvar, whose management team have been more than happy to encourage the staff initiative and give back to the community of which they are a part of.
We have been humbled by the impact our small efforts have made – just a group of colleagues giving up a few hours each month - which proves if we stand shoulder to shoulder, we can make a big difference.
Ansvar are a broker-only insurance company, who specialise in charity, not-for-profit and faith insurance. We believe that we really live and breathe the company ethics; we don’t just talk about it, we genuinely do it and over 74% of staff are either involved with a charity personally, or support charities through various company fundraising schemes.
The Hygiene Bank came into existence in August 2018 and is run as individual projects across the country. Over 1.5 million people have visited foodbanks in the past 12 months – and the shocking truth is that more people give up buying hygiene products a long time before they seek the help of foodbanks. Each local project is set up by volunteers who organise means of collecting donations. In Eastbourne 33% of children are being brought up in hygiene poverty which affects mental health – children being bullied at school, low self-esteem, and confidence to go to a job interview. Babies without nappies; families bathing in washing up liquid; children suffering from hair nits and going to school dirty; women’s refuges trying to support women and young children in trauma.
If you are an insurance broker or an insurer and have some good news to share about something you have done to help people in the communities you serve during the current Coronavirus Crisis, we would love to hear from you.
Please read this blog Coronavirus Crisis: Brokers and insurers tell us what you are doing to help for further information written by our Managing Director Paul Handleigh.