Mobile phone company staff take on Apprentice-style challenge to help families in need

On December 23, mobile phone provider Aerial will donate Christmas dinners with all the trimmings to the local families that the Crasswell Street charity supports.

On the final day, before breaking up for Christmas, Aerial hosts entertaining team-building games for all the staff at its Rodney Road base in Milton.

This year it will be hosting an ‘Apprentice-style’ game in which teams from each department will have to gather items on the festive shopping list – from the turkey and sprouts to the Christmas tree and gifts for the children.

The teams have to try to complete the task of collecting all the items within the fastest time.

All of the collected items will then be delivered and donated to The Roberts Centre in Landport afterwards.

Aerial managing director Paul Davis said: ‘It is with great pleasure that we as a company are able to help those less fortunate than us. While the team-building aspect is great fun for the staff, knowing that our event will be making some families’ Christmases perhaps just a little bit better, makes it all the more worthwhile.’

The Roberts Centre is a child-focused charity that assists families struggling with homelessness or suffering the impact of a relationship breakdown.

It strives to give vulnerable people the best possible chance of improving their circumstances and achieving their potential.

It does this through the provision of resettlement services, temporary accommodation, supported housing, child contact services and a day nursery, all of which help to improve the lives of families throughout Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant.

The charity will celebrate 30 years of homeless family support next year and will be holding lots of fundraising events in 2017 to mark this.

Melanie Goddard, the family services manager at The Roberts Centre said: ‘Christmas can be a great financial strain on many of our families and this amazing team-building idea will mean that for some of our families this worry will be greatly reduced.

‘We cannot thank the team at Aerial enough. This will mean that families can stop worrying about the cost and simply enjoy being together as a family.’

Aerial Business Communications was named best Overall Business in The News’ Business Excellence Awards this year

Aerial and The Roberts Centre said they would like to wish the community a merry Christmas and a happy new year.