Henderson Retail owns and operates over 95 SPAR and EUROSPAR stores in Northern Ireland. Henderson Retail forms part of the Henderson Group, which began its operations in the retail grocery business back in 1897 selling butter, cheese and eggs at premises on the Old Lodge Road in Belfast.
After six years of annual fundraising, the ambitious goal of raising £1m for children's charities looked well within reach this year. The UK Benefit for Children Classic (BFC) proposed the target some time ago and year-on-year, the total bounced up so that last year, the final figure stood at £832,000, within striking distance of the £1m target.
However, as the implications of the lockdown became clearer, the company made the difficult decision, first to postpone the event, then as the pandemic developed, to cancel this year's fundraising event.
Matt Dooley, Vice President UK Operations, said, “We were all understandably upset that it could not go ahead, as we knew it would impact the charities we support at a time of extraordinary need."
Valero contacted its sponsors to tell them that the event was cancelled and asked if they would consider donating some or all of their sponsorship money to the charities, considering the circumstances. The charities were under sudden intense pressures with a sharp increased need for their services, combined with a halt in their fundraising activities.
The result from the sponsors was amazing. “The support that our sponsors have pledged in response has been overwhelmingly positive, with a total of £169,575 donated to the charities. We are extremely grateful for their generosity and commitment to those less fortunate at such a difficult time," Dooley added.
Thanks to their donations, the ambitious goal set at the first BFC in 2014 has now been met and just over £1 million has now been raised for children's charities.
Many of the charities regularly supported by the BFC were relying on the funds as part of their 2020 budget. As such, they were grateful to receive the funding, even though the event did not take place.
Lizzi Hollis, Head of Corporate Partnerships and Engagement at Richard House, said, “It's so generous of the sponsors to continue to offer their support, even though the event isn't going ahead – please pass on our hugest thanks from everyone at Richard House to the sponsors for their kindness at this time. And of course, a massive thank you to you and the BFC team there at Valero for working so hard to ensure you are still able to give support to your charities, despite the event's cancellation."
Ceri Crichton, Charity Development Lead at Sandy Bear said, “We wanted to say a personal thank you to all of the sponsors of the Valero Benefit for Children event from Sandy Bear Children's Bereavement Charity.
“With your amazing kindness, we can provide support to all Pembrokeshire children who have lost a loved one."
Family business, Gardner Garages Limited, have recently opened another Texaco site, City Service Station in Hereford. This will bring the current number of Gardner Garages sites under the Texaco brand to four with their first site Gardner General Garage in Huntley joining over 20 years ago. The three existing sites, Gardner Cheltenham Service Station, Gardner Westgate Services and Gardner General Garage have recently signed long term renewals with the Texaco brand as well.
Gardner Garages have a strong relationship with Valero and were keen to offer their customers a brand they knew and could trust to deliver a service their customers have come to expect from them.
Clive Gardner, Chairman of Gardner Garages said, “The ability to have open dialogue and excellent communication with decision makers within the Valero organisation has proven invaluable over the years as has the reliability of their fuel ordering and delivery service. It's reassuring to know the level of support and service we will receive on signing up another site to the Texaco brand."
City Service Station, which was previously Harvest branded, offers a Londis convenience store, Costa coffee and stocks three grades of fuel including Supreme unleaded, however Clive who thrives on transforming sites around has bigger plans for the future of this site. His medium to long term goal is to completely knock the site down and create a future proof forecourt with all grades of fuel and better community focused facilities like a small café with a Wi-Fi area. He has a strong vision of how he wants the business to take shape and is looking forward to developing the site.
The business is also committed to helping out in the community, and for many years has undertaken fundraising activities to support the Pied Piper Appeal, a local charity that helps makes a difference to the lives of sick and disabled children in Gloucestershire. During the current the business has also donated £2500 to help a local primary school and cat rescue centre after seeking nominations from the local community.
Andrew Cox, Valero's director sales and marketing, said, “Our relationship with Gardner Garages goes back many years and we're delighted to have teamed up with Clive again as their fuel supplier for their latest location. I've no doubt the site will be successful and Clive's plans for the future will be well supported under the Texaco brand."
Gardner Garages is a family business and is run by Clive Gardner (Chairman), his daughter Emma Gardner (MD) and son Ashton Gardner (Operations Director). Clive grew up exposed to the business world at a very early age as his father ran a portfolio of businesses including two petrol forecourts, hairdressers, cafes, guest houses and ice-cream vans to name but a few. He started off working in his father's petrol retailing business before moving on to become a BP licensee in the 1980's. He acquired his first Texaco site in 1996 and over the years has gone through some acquisitions, sales and even a 'mini retirement' in Spain. The portfolio now comprises of a site with BP and four sites with Valero with purchase of another petrol station in Gloucestershire nearly complete. Planning has recently been approved for the development of two substantial stand-alone convenience stores in Cheltenham as well.
Texaco Star Rewards loyalty customers have helped to donate over £60,000 to front line charities facing .
Texaco UKAs the UK went into lockdown earlier in the year, charities across the UK began facing an unprecedented challenge to support those in need. As a company that is committed to supporting the communities in which it works, Valero Energy Ltd, who market fuel in the UK under the Texaco brand, announced they would be supporting a number of charities in the wake of the pandemic.
Valero provided financial assistance, along with free Texaco fuel, to FareShare, Age UK, The Trussell Trust and a charity close to Valero's head office in Canary Wharf, the East End Emergency Fund.
Support has also come from Texaco's loyalty programme Star Rewards. Star Rewards members have been able to donate their loyalty Points to any of these charities, and all donations have been matched by Valero. In total over £63,000 has been donated to these charities through Star Rewards so far.
Joelle Carroll-Fitch, corporate partnerships from Fareshare said, “We have been blown away by the support of Star Rewards members who have made Points donations to FareShare. The donations have allowed us to provide 53,960 meals to people in need throughout the pandemic. The donation has made a big difference at a challenging time and we are very grateful for the support we have received."
Andrew Cox, director of sales and marketing, Valero, added, “We want to say a huge thank you to all the Star Rewards members who have made Points donations to these charities during these difficult times. Your support is greatly appreciated and every donation makes a difference to these charities whose resources have been greatly stretched in recent months."
Wednesday 1 July was a milestone for Valero Energy and the Co-op, with 28 Co-op fuel sites being switched to Valero supply in just one day. It is the biggest conversion of sites in one day that either company has ever attempted.
Normally staggered over many weeks, switching so many sites on one day could only have been achieved thanks to the close collaboration of the two companies.
Valero, who last year agreed a long-term supply contract with the Co-op to be their principal fuel supplier, will now supply a total of 115 Co-op service stations across the UK. The sites are a mix of Co-op and Texaco branded.
Eddie Jenkinson, national fuels manager, Co-op, said, "Developing great partnerships is key to our approach and, we are pleased to build on our work with Valero as we continue to create petrol filling stations which are seen as a community hub locally - delivering the food and fuel needs that our Members and customers need, conveniently."
The ambitious goal was possible because of the introduction of an auto replenishment system, Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI). The system gives the supplier a live data feed from the retailer's fuel tanks that enables them to predict demand and deliver fuel to a site when needed. This allows better planning and management of product supply for the retailer.
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