Christmas Dinner Support at Ellsmere Port

Kier is the first company in the built environment sector to support 16-25-year olds that have spent time in care through the Department for Education’s Care Leaver Covenant. Launched at an event in Birmingham in November, the agreement looks to support care leavers with opportunities to enter work including internships and apprenticeships. Kier will provide care leavers with additional support including one-to-one mentoring and pastoral support; and provide them with educational and training opportunities.

Signing the Covenant highlights the commitment of Kier and its employees to providing targeted, specialist support for care leavers. Haydn Mursell, CEO at Kier, commented: “I am incredibly proud to be the first company in the built environment to sign up to the Care Leaver Covenant to, alongside our supply chain, establish training facilities for young people that have spent time in care and provide mentoring opportunities and apprenticeships.”

Kier Construction have been involved by supporting three young people in care over the period of a year and at Christmas we supported the Christmas Dinner Project which helped 35 care leavers based in Ellesmere Port to enjoy a Christmas Day. Lemn Sissay is the inspiration behind the project and he said, “Too often Christmas Day is a reminder of everything they never had. Often it’s a dreaded day. The Christmas Dinner is a life changing, lifesaving experience of warmth in abundance. A time to have a good laugh, make new friends and feel valued.”

Through our relationship with Cheshire West and Chester Council, Chester Theatre Storyhouse and Graham Lister we were able to donate £500 to the appeal to provide these young people a Christmas that many of us take for granted. A big thank you must go to those in the Liverpool region who generously donated a further £140 to buy presents to give out on the day.

Watch the highlights from the day here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16YUSsqWLKU