Today is Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day and the team at Nissan Sunderland Plant are using their manufacturing excellence to help to make the world ‘Better with a Sweater’!
Every year staff at the plant don their best festive knits to raise money for good causes – and in recent times the Sunderland team has raised more than £13,000 for various charities.
The strict safety restrictions around COVID-19 mean bucket collections cannot take place at the plant this year. But that’s not stopping the team in Sunderland.
Production Director Adam Pennick said: “We have a fantastic team at the plant, who have raised tremendous amounts for good causes in the past.
“We weren’t going to let COVID stop us, so we challenged the team to build safety secure collection points, and the results are stunning.”
Built entirely from spare materials, and in their spare time, the teams at the plant have designed and built innovative collection contraptions, which allow staff to make their donations in a variety of safe ways.
Designs include a Santa’s sleigh, complete with protective visor, a 2-metre long giant cracker for coins to roll down, and a suction pipe carried by a reindeer to take those generous enough to put a note in.
Mr Pennick added: “We’re a team built on ‘Kaizen’ – which means continuous improvement through innovation, out of the box thinking and brilliant manufacturing. The fact that our people have come up with these cracking contraptions shows the team spirit we also have at the plant.”
Staff at the plant are also donating online via a Just Giving page.
Elodie Soetaert, Head of Christmas Jumper Day at Save the Children said: “We’re so grateful to each and every person that takes part in Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day. With Covid-19 leaving more children living in poverty, going hungry and unable to learn, this year’s Christmas Jumper Day is more important than ever.
“Taking part will help support some of the world’s most vulnerable children in the UK and around the world. By donating £2 to Save the Children, you really will be making the world better with a sweater!”