A fundraising man with a plan... for a van!

Sunday 24 March 2019

A local construction company director and passionate fundraiser is grabbing his running shoes in order to fulfil his plan for a van to help a social enterprise that helps islanders with disabilities to work.

This year, ROK's Greg Morrison is hoping to raise money in order to buy a van for Acorn, while also raising awareness of the work they do at the same time, by doing a sponsored run every month - and maybe even "the odd abseil".

Acorn is a an enterprise run alongside JET - the Jersey Employment Trust - and together provide employment and training opportunities for islanders with disabilities.

Pictured: Greg is putting on his running shoes for this year's fundraising effort.

It's a group that's close to Greg's heart, having had personal experience of their work in securing placements for clients. He has also served as an advisor to the board of trustees.

If he's successful in fundraising through the year-long high-power activities, Greg hopes that van will be used to transport items brought to the household reuse and recycling centre at La Collette, to the Acorn centre in Trinity.

It's not the first time that Greg has got sporty for charity. In 2016 Greg and the members of ROK took part in Run Jersey, and they managed to raise £3,500. This money went towards supporting the work JET clients perform at Acorn Woodshack.

Pictured: Greg's project is called 'Run for JET' through which he helps to make a difference for the social enterprise.

Greg said: “I truly admire the support the Jersey Employment Trust offers some of the most vulnerable members of our community and hope to continually raise awareness of their work.

"The Run for JET initiative sprung from a desire to get back into running in 2019, I took part in the Jersey Park Run on the 26th January to kick off my year of challenges ahead."

Jocelyn Butterworth, CEO of the Jersey Employment Trust, added: “Once again, we are sincerely grateful for Greg’s fundraising efforts and hope he receives ample support to reach his goal of funding the purchase of a van.”

Pictured: Greg in training mode.

She continued: “Transporting and collecting goods is, obviously, fundamental to the smooth running of the Reuse Centre and to make sure that we have goods in the right place and ready for resale.

"Items like vans are expensive assets and we rely on the support of people like Greg to make sure that we can provide the best possible service for the Island and for our clients.”