A charity initiative by one of Scotland’s best known family firms has donated more than £100,000 to charities and good causes in its first 11 months.
Allied Vehicles Charitable Trust, in Possilpark, Glasgow, was launched in January and has given over £66,000 to local schools, early years programmes and initiatives aimed at supporting young people.
More than £15,000 has been given to food banks and food charities, who have been struggling to buy in supplies as inflation forces more people to hunt for bargains shortly before supermarket closing times.
Disability charities and those supporting people with various illnesses and conditions have benefited by £21,000.
Allied Vehicles, the UK’s leading supplier of wheelchair-accessible vehicles, has been based in Possilpark in the north of Glasgow for almost 30 years and is run by the Facenna family. The company established the Trust in January to bring together all its charity efforts, including those from its workforce of almost 600.
Among the schools to benefit from the trust was Saracen Primary School, which is located near Allied’s Lomond Street HQ.
AVCT gave their parent council £3,000 to help their P7 pupils go on a trip to Blairvadach early next year.
Christine Dempster, from the parent council, said: “It has meant the world to me and our school that AVCT are able to donate towards our primary 7’s residential trip. We definitely weren’t expecting the donation to be of such a large sum either, which was a pleasant surprise.”
“I am overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity shown by AVCT. The donation will also be beneficial to our school as we won’t need to use as much school funding to finance the trips which means not only will the primary 7s benefit from their residential trip but also pupils and staff will benefit as the money saved can now go towards school supplies, staffing, etc. Thank you so much again.”
Winning Scotland received £12,500 for an initiative to promote health and wellbeing through physical activity amongst youngsters in north Glasgow.
Richard Orr, Winning Scotland’s Director of Partnerships, said: “Support from the Allied Vehicles Charitable Trust has made an enormous difference to Winning Scotland’s ‘On Our Marks’ physical activity project – enabling us to deliver a full 12 months of activity to children, families and schools in north Glasgow. We’re already seeing the impact, with children demonstrating improved physical confidence, and teachers reporting their pupils are more focused, settled and interacting better with their peers.”
St Cuthbert’s Primary School is one of several AVCT has helped with residential trips for P7 pupils, giving them £1,000 in April. Zoe Stewart, from the school, said: “St Cuthbert’s Primary School are overjoyed with the response we have had from AVCT group. Without the help of AVCT we wouldn’t have been able to provide the experiences the children have had the opportunity of this year!”
“We feel privileged to have been one of the first beneficiaries to receive Help from AVCT. Building local area Partnerships are extremely important to us.”
Allied Owner Gerry Facenna said the company was pleased to be able to help when the rising cost of living was affecting everyone and commented: “Our intention was to prioritise those charities in and around north Glasgow, and while we have done that, we have also helped a variety of groups further afield, as well as causes nominated by our staff.”
David Facenna, the company’s Corporate Culture Director, added: “We were just emerging from the shadow of the pandemic when we launched the Trust and charities responded well. More groups are seeking help as the rising cost of living – including energy and food prices – begins to eat into budgets and we will continue to do what we can to assist.”
