OXFORDSHIRE BUSINESSES SHINE Written by: Grant Hayward
B4 has been a great window through which to view the continued and growing shift businesses are making to embed more positive social and environmental purpose at the heart of what they do, and I have been proud to support B4 in this direction too. However, the extraordinary circumstances we are all experiencing, have significantly influenced an amplification of this with some truly impressive examples of Business as a Force for Good across Oxfordshire.
Heather Carter, Operations Director at Blenheim
So, I’d like to highlight just a few examples with the aim of praising all such companies and the people within them that really have been going above and beyond. But mainly I hope to inspire others to generate ideas about the ways they, their staff and their supply chains can work collaboratively within communities to tackle some of the heightened challenges it seems we will continue to face for some time yet.
But first, the moral maze
For more than 10 years now I have been helping businesses to understand the much deeper and wider opportunities and benefits of making this shift to embed purpose, as opposed to what are often simple, modest gestures and sometimes even just for PR purposes. Yet I still constantly battle with the quandary around motivation and benefit. My nirvana is for all involved to be acting because it’s the right thing to do and because this benefits others, although ultimately deriving benefit for themselves 18
and their organisations in some way. So this isn’t about the way many businesses have admirably “pivoted” to respond to the crisis and also offer new products and services on a commercial basis - as vitally important as that is to the economy, those businesses and customers. So, to be perfectly clear, this is about those who are putting others first and foremost.
Optimising networks and supply chains
When the government restrictions first hit, B4 member, Blenheim, was keen to find a way to utilise their extensive catering facilities, which were lying dormant. Working with supplier, Searcys and its furloughed staff, they set about developing a collaboration to prepare and deliver chilled meals to those in need. Oxfordshire’s B4 network at its very best soon enabled connections with SOFEA in Didcot, Oxford Together, Oxford Food Bank and Cuckoo Lane Fruit and Veg to launch a service
delivering 48 meals to the Barton Community Association volunteers. Searcys also added VE Day afternoon tea cakes as an extra for people to enjoy, which is claimed to be Winston Churchill’s favourite fruit cake! Blenheim’s furloughed staff deliver twice each week to Barton Community Association volunteers, who in turn take the meals out into the community for the elderly and vulnerable. Jenny Howard, one of these volunteers, is pictured on p65 ready to deliver the meals. There are also plans to extend this with additional drop offs to other communities. Heather Carter, Operations Director at Blenheim said “We are extremely proud of the Blenheim team who have contributed their time and energy to make this food production and delivery scheme happen. It was wonderful to the happy smiles of the people in the Barton community when they received their first meal pack”.
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