Member Article

Porsche Centre gets motoring for The Prince’s Trust

Porsche Centre Leeds gets motoring for The Prince’s Trust

As part of JCT600’s four year patronage of The Prince’s Trust, a team from Porsche Centre Leeds has risen to the challenge of attempting to raise £10,000 for the youth charity as part of its nationwide Million Makers competition.

The entrepreneurial challenge invites teams of employees from across the UK to come up with a fundraising business idea which they pitch to a Dragon’s Den-style panel of judges from The Prince’s Trust and from their own company. The selected teams are then given £1,500 seed funding and challenged to raise at least £10,000 within a six month period. In February, the winning team in each region will go forward to the national competition with the UK winner announced in March – the overall aim is for all the teams to collectively raise a grand total of £1m to transform the lives of disadvantaged young people across the country.

A team from JCT600’s specialist car division at Porsche Centre Leeds came up with the idea of producing a calendar – In Your Dreams 2017 - starring some of the family motor company’s most eye-catching cars as well as colleagues in suitably seasonal poses. The stylish photos range from colleagues ‘proposing’ to one another over a beautiful Porsche 918 Spyder for the February Valentine’s photo to the entire JCT600 board of directors in their scariest Halloween garb with a Bentley GT Speed for the October page!

The Million Makers team at Porsche Centre Leeds comprises Jo Thompson, brand financial controller; Terri-Michelle Haywood, marketing manager; Lauren Flatt, media assistant; Sarah Toye, accountant; Vicki Ingham, MA accountant; Nadia Siddique, accounts controller; Jordan Smith-Hirst, accountant; Beverley Bairstow, credit controller; Kelly Reynolds, sales administrator; and Richard Harrison, showroom manager.

As well as raising funds for The Prince’s Trust, the aim of the competition is also to act as a learning and development tool for employees, helping to build essential business skills and motivate staff. The JCT600 team is competing against five other teams in the Yorkshire and Humberside region. Jo Thompson, brand financial controller for JCT600 and one of the Million Makers team at Porsche Centre Leeds, explains: “Every year we take part in JCT600’s charity fundraising activities and we wanted to do our bit for The Prince’s Trust in the first year that the company has been a patron. To be honest, having come up with the idea of a JCT600 calendar, turning this into reality has been a bigger task than we expected. Within just a couple of months, we had to arrange for all of the photos to be taken, oversee the editing, find sponsors and arrange printing. We’re now busy marketing the calendars and the project seems to be going well although we only have until mid-February to reach our £10,000 target.

“We’d like to thank our sponsors, colleagues and everyone who has supported us – and if you’re looking for an unusual Christmas gift which embodies the true spirit of the festive season, please do pop into Porsche Centre Leeds or order our £10 charity calendar via JCT600’s Facebook or Twitter pages!”

The In Your Dreams 2017 calendar is available by making a donation at www.justgiving.com/nadia-siddique (then email jo.thompson@jct600.co.uk with your postal address). All of the donations received will be given to The Prince’s Trust.

The Trust believes that every young person should have the chance to succeed and helps 13 to 30 year olds who are unemployed or struggling at school to transform their lives. JCT600’s support for the charity includes fundraising and providing opportunities for colleagues to work with young people through The Trust, providing coaching and mentoring support.

The Prince’s Trust, which marks its 40th anniversary this year, helps young people get their lives on track. Many of the young people helped by The Trust are in or leaving care, facing issues such as homelessness or mental health problems, or they have been in trouble with the law. The Trust’s programmes give vulnerable young people the practical and financial support needed to stabilise their lives, helping develop self-esteem and skills for work. Three in four young people supported by The Prince’s Trust move into work, education or training.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Kilmurray .