Property professionals from City living specialist Morgans are building on the company’s relationship with Leeds Mencap.
The charity supports over 450 children and adults with a learning disability in Leeds, where it runs a residential home, carer and parent support projects, a Friday club for 18 -25 year olds, an inclusive dance project for 12 – 25 year olds, a siblings support group and holiday play schemes
It is five years since Morgans began to work with Mencap, volunteering time and donating funds to this worthy local cause.
Jonathan Morgan, Managing Director said “We continue to support Leeds Mencap, which is one of our favourite organisations, by taking our team to its home at the Vinery Centre, where we employ various levels of brain and brawn to do whatever we can to help. This includes everything from painting and cleaning, to programming the heating system and laying turf.
Having operated in Leeds for over 22 years, we are extremely proud and protective of our City and feel it’s really important to play an active role, helping young people in Leeds. We have found that many of our team are keen to volunteer with deserving organisations, and by creating dedicated charity days, they can do it in a structured and meaningful way. Plus, when 30 of us descend, the proverb that ‘many hands make light work’ rings true, and we can achieve a lot of amazing things in a short space of time.
Earlier this year, we delivered 110 chocolate eggs to Leeds Mencap, so that all the young people who attended at Easter enjoyed a treat, and one of our Sales team, Alex Lavigne, is also raising money for the charity with four gruelling challenges.”
Those four challenges are: climbing the Three Peaks, a parachute jump, running the Leeds Half Marathon and the Leeds 10k.
Cath Lee, Chief Executive of Mencap, said “Morgans’ volunteers are fantastic. Leeds Mencap couldn’t do what we do without our volunteers, who bring a diverse mix of skills and experience which enriches what we can offer. The enthusiasm and energy in the Morgans’ team is always a boost – we can never thank them enough.”
Jonathan Morgan added “Leeds Mencap is just one of the charities we regularly support. We also launched a Mental Health Pub Quiz earlier this year, raising over £26,500. The money was shared between The Market Place, which is a vital drop-in centre in Leeds that gives information, support and counselling to people aged 13 to 25, and mental health charity Leeds Mind, which our marketing and PR officer, Lucy Smith, is also raising funds for through a sponsored Three Peaks challenge.
We’re also heavily involved with homeless charity, St George’s Crypt, and will be bag packing at Asda in Killingbeck this year, where we hope to beat the £800 we raised last time. Our team’s can-do attitude and enthusiasm always shine through and everyone gets stuck into any task.
We recently volunteered again at Hollin Lane allotments in North Leeds, which are supported by Leeds Community Foundation. We are helping to bring unkempt plots back into use by making them smaller and more manageable, so older people can grow their own fruit and veg in the heart of Leeds. This physical work gets us all outside and is actually a great distraction for everyone involved.”
It is 22 years since Morgans pioneered Leeds City living and the firm now specialises in sales, rentals and property management, being awarded Best Estate Agency at the Yorkshire Residential Property Awards in 2017. Jonathan was awarded Lifetime Achievement in 2016. He regularly provides comment on his blog, which you can visit here and is a director of Gipton Fire Station Community Enterprise and St George’s Independent Living.
Photograph provided by Candid PR and shows from left to right: Marketing Assistant Aimee Jackson, Marketing and PR Officer Lucy Smith, Managing Director Jonathan Morgan, Chief Executive of Leeds Mencap Cath Lee, Receptionist Lizzie Pollitt and Sales Negotiator Alex Lavigne.
(Leeds Living writer Helen Morgan is in no way related to Morgans.)
