Colleague Box – a new business launched by an entrepreneurial Derby couple during lockdown – have chosen Safe and Sound as its charity partner for their next personalised gifts campaign.
Adam and Natalie Bamford launched Colleague Box, a letterbox gift company, as the coronavirus pandemic was at its peak.
They have since been inundated with orders from companies wanting to cheer up remote workers and then welcome furloughed staff back to the workplace with tasty treats and personal messages delivered through the post.
The expanding company is now planning its Christmas range and is pledging to donate £1 from each order received to the specialist charity.
Safe and Sound supports children and young people across Derbyshire who are victims of or at risk of child exploitation including online grooming, sexual exploitation, County Lines, Modern Slavery and trafficking as well as supporting their families and raises awareness of the issues in local communities.
Natalie Bamford, a former teaching assistant who worked with children with special educational needs, explained that the company was keen to support Safe and Sound who work with some of the most vulnerable children and young people in the county.
She said: “We have received so much support from individuals and businesses across the county and beyond that we wanted to put something back into our local community.
“Having worked with children with special educational needs I know just how vulnerable many of them are to grooming and exploitation and we are very lucky to have Safe and Sound who do a brilliant job to support young people, their families and to raise awareness of the dangers to the wider public.
“Christmas looks set to be a busy time of year for us – despite being such a young company – and we hope that we can raise a significant amount of money for this valuable local charity.”
Safe and Sound chief executive Tracy Harrison added: “Adam and Natalie have proved that, through creativity and hard work, positives can come out negative situations and they are fantastic role models to other young entrepreneurs.
“We too have faced out challenges during lockdown – juggling restrictions around face to face contact with an increasing number of children, young people and families who need our support - but we have been proactive to ensure we can continue to transform young lives.
“We largely depend on the generosity and support of local individuals, groups and businesses so are very grateful that Colleague Box have chosen us as their charity partner over the coming months.”
Pre-orders are currently being taken for Colleague Box’s Christmas range with options for bespoke items. Visit our homepage https://www.colleaguebox.co.uk/
For more information about Safe and Sound and how to support the work it does, please visit https://safeandsoundgroup.org.uk/
Media enquiries: Sarah Jenkin-Jones, JJPR, Tel: 01332 515102/07951 945665; sarah@jjpublicrelations.co.uk
About Safe and Sound
Formed in 2002, Safe and Sound is an inspiring Derbyshire charity that transforms young lives affected by child exploitation with innovative, hands-on programmes.
The charity works at grass root levels delivering individual support to each child as well as families and carers. This vital support enables them to move not just to a place of safety, but emerge unshackled and undefined by their experience and enabled to reach their full potential.
The charity continues to specialise in child sexual exploitation and is now developing its services to support children and young people facing or at risk of wider exploitation which are often interlinked. These include physical and emotional violence, neglect, modern day slavery, radicalisation and human trafficking, domestic abuse, missing episodes and County Lines.
Safe and Sound is led by former police superintendent Tracy Harrison with the support of a specialist team; an experience board of Trustees and now a team of Ambassadors who are helping to raise the profile of the charity and the issue of child exploitation.
Safe and Sound’s expertise came to the fore during the 2010 landmark case – Operation Retriever – which was Derby’s first prosecution for child sexual exploitation and abuse. The charity’s specialist team supported every young person affected by the criminal actions of 13 defendants who were jailed in total for up to 22 years for 70 offences.
For more information about child exploitation, Safe and Sound Derby and how to support their work, please visit www.safeandsoundgroup.org.uk