Christmas should be a special time of the year when we come together to celebrate with loved ones. For most of us that will involve spending time with family. Though sadly for lots of people the festive season makes the loneliness and hardships they endure on a daily basis even tougher to cope with.
For that reason, Family Business United (FBU), a community of family firms from across the country, is calling upon its members to help those in need this Christmas.
With the support of sponsors Plan Insurance Brokers, itself a FBU member and award winning Family Business, the FBU will be visiting generous family firms across the country between December 4th – 8th to collect and distribute items donated to local good causes.
To promote the campaign the visits will be made in a festively decorated black cab! You’ll be able to follow their efforts on Twitter via #FamilyBizSantaDash.
Family Businesses Uniting at Christmas
Family Business United is a leading resource for family businesses of all sizes, involved in any industry. As well as helping individual companies develop, their advice aims to raise the profile of the family business sector as a whole.
In doing so the FBU hopes to promote the contribution that family businesses make to both society and the UK economy. Marketing Director of Plan Insurance Brokers Grant Georgiades truly believes in the value of family firms,
“Family businesses are widely recognised as having both moral and social consciences. What better way could there be to demonstrate these virtues than by coming together to help those most in need this Christmas?”
Helping the homeless
As a responsible, family run company Plan aims to contribute to many charitable initiatives. One of Plan’s key markets is taxi insurance, and as a result we’re especially aware of the good work done by the black cab trade.
Several selfless souls from the Worshipful Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers’ organise a weekly soup kitchen for London’s homeless. In recent years at Christmas, the trade has also supplied warm clothing to those in need. You can follow their efforts on Twitter via #taxiwarmclothing.
Plan have assisted their hard work in previous years and employee Pamela Eve found it to be a very rewarding experience,
“In the past we supplied 10 sacks full of essential items for those living rough at Christmas. The team got involved by donating clean, good quality clothes that they no longer needed. I think it makes you appreciate how lucky you are and I was really happy to be able to help, even if it’s just in a small way.”
With the aid of The Santa Dash this year Plan are aiming to support the taxi drivers efforts in an even bigger way this winter.
We want to donate 100 boxes each containing the following items:
Hats, Gloves, Scarves, Socks, Thermals, Blankets, Jumpers/Jackets, Sleeping Bags, Tasty treats and Sanitary items.
How you can support
There are numerous ways you can support our efforts –
Firstly you can click through and pledge to donate – as little as the “cost of a cuppa” will make a massive difference.
If your company would like to Sponsor a Bauble on our festive cab, click below to donate!
Alternatively if you’re a business that could donate any of the items that are to be included in the boxes we’d love to hear from you here? Either way we’ll make sure to tag you in lots of our social media activity during the week to keep you posted.
Who’s Helped Santa So Far?
We’re already incredibly grateful to GasCab who have very generously pledged the use of one of their fantastic taxis for the Santa Dash. GasCab specialise in converting diesel taxis to run on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (better known as LPG) which reduces nitrogen oxides by 80% and particulate matter by 99%. Helping us be kind to the environment as well as the needy at Christmas.
Plus the following list of companies will be updated with those that have signed up to sponsor a bauble. So far we have:
Ubiqutous – the leading taxi advertising company in the UK with over 30 years experience in delivering intelligent solutions to agencies and brands
DriverTax – an accountancy firm that specialises in serving professional drivers.
Tradewise – an exclusive provider of taxi and private hire insurance to Plan who realise that insurance is first and foremost, about people.
Who will be visiting?
We’ve lots of companies volunteering generous donations. So we’re just finalising our route at the moment in order to fit in as many collections and drop offs at deserving causes as possible. As soon as the route is confirmed we’ll announce the details on social media.
Promote and Follow the Santa Dash
If you’re not in a position to be able to donate financially then your support in promoting the campaign will be very much appreciated.
Follow @planinsurance and/or @FamilyBizPaul
Retweet #FamBizSantaDash
Like our Facebook posts and our page to keep up to date with our progress.
With your help we can make a big difference this winter.
Further information
Family Business United is a leading resource for family businesses of all sizes and all industries. As well as helping individual companies develop, their advisers aim to raise the profile of the family business sector as a whole.
Plan Insurance Brokers are experts in commercial motor insurance. Their specialist advisors source competitive premiums, tailored policies and high quality cover from leading insurers.