Two executives at VPS Group, the property security company plan to cycle 360 miles in five days to raise money for Samaritans and their own mental health campaigns.
Lee Newman, Group CEO said: “We are living through unprecedented times, the pandemic has placed additional stress on everyone and for some has had a very detrimental effect on their mental health. We can all see that there are some positive signs that we are moving towards a better future, however I remain concerned about the pandemic’s longer-term effects, so in addition to investing in our own mental health provision, we wanted to do something more, so decided to take on this fundraising challenge to support Samaritans and their life-saving, suicide prevention work.”
Lee and Darron Cavanagh, Chief Operations Officer, will be leaving London on May 23, going via Norwich to visit the Evander head office – one of the group’s divisional businesses, a UK provider of glazing and locks services – before heading north, into the Peak District to arrive at VPS Group head office in Chadderton, Manchester on May 27. A number of guest cyclists, including Paul Lewis, Evander Managing Director, will be joining to ride sections of the route.
Darron Cavanagh says: “We want to drum-up support and raise as much money as possible with the aim of funding 50 Samaritan’s volunteers and our own mental health initiatives. Along the way, we’re calling out to our network of colleagues, customers and suppliers and asking them to join us on one of the legs of the journey and help support us in this fundraising challenge.”
Every seven seconds, Samaritans respond to a call for help. Every year, they spend over one million hours responding to calls for help, and their corporate partners, of which VPS Group is now one, help to support some 20,000 trained volunteers so they are available to anyone struggling to cope, 24 hours.
Lee Newman adds: “My wife is a counsellor, she also works on a voluntary basis as a grief counsellor and has been an active Samaritan for several years, so it as a subject close to our hearts. We have set our target at £50,000 but clearly the more we raise the better.”
And Darron Cavanagh adds: “We hope that the easing of lockdown restrictions will keep to the government’s recently announced timetable, so that we can safely do this charity bike ride as planned and raise these much-needed funds – the outcomes are so important.”
