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Facilities management firm AFM raised £2,300 and gave hours of time to its chosen charity, Riding for the Disabled Guernsey, during 2016.
AFM chose RDA after asking local charities to apply for support at the end of 2015.
‘We chose the RDA because they’re a relatively small charity and we felt that they could benefit from the help of AFM raising their profile in the local community,’ said Karen Girdlestone, AFM’s commercial manager.
‘It was more synonymous with what we wanted to do as a company because we could get involved as individuals as well, not just from a fundraising perspective, but to become lead reign walkers with them. It’s just been great fun, we’ve loved every minute of it.’
AFM initially invested £1,000 to enable the charity to buy new riding helmets for every rider. The firm has also donated the proceeds of dress down days, its Christmas raffle and cake sales totalling a further £1,300, as well as making dressage markers for the charity.
Jenny Hamon, joint chairman of Riding for the Disabled, said the support from AFM has been fantastic.
‘They’ve been a terrific help this year, we’re going to miss them. As well as providing equipment such as helmets and dressage markers, their staff have got involved and helped us in the work we do here,’ she said.
‘It’s amazing what these young people get out of riding. We get parents coming back to us saying what a difference it’s made with balance, with speech; even children who will not even recognise anybody, you get eye contact. In fact there was one child who actually spoke to the pony and they’d never spoken before, so it’s amazing what you get out of it, it really is.’
AFM’s chosen charity for 2017 will be announced in the New Year.
