Ever since Stafflex was established in 2000, managing director Brian Stahelin has instilled strong values ensuring the business plays an active role in the local community.
The family run recruitment agency based in Huddersfield has supported over 33 charities, initiatives and good causes over the last 12 months alone. As the business has grown, so have the contributions to community causes – success goes hand in hand with support.
Here is an in-depth look into some of these activities and the positive effect they have within the community.
The flagship activity of Stafflex’s community work is through sponsorship of the Leslie Sports Foundation at Stafflex Arena Storthes Hall Park, Huddersfield. The arena itself is home to more than 30 amateur football clubs including Shelley Community FC and Huddersfield Town Ladies, hosting regular league and cup games, end of season semi-finals and finals.
The foundation, established by businessmen Graham and Craig Leslie in 2013, provides affordable access to high quality training and coaching facilities for amateur sports enthusiasts. Having initially pledged support for three years, Stafflex has signed a five figure, five-year sponsorship deal last year to help fund ground improvements and enable the home clubs to progress through the leagues.
Partnering with the foundation is a great fit with the company’s values and enables it to work with a growing family of like-minded local people passionate about not only sport but the local community.
This includes support for schools that deliver football sessions for children with special needs – an initiative that makes a real difference to young people’s lives.
Commenting on Stafflex’s involvement Nemi Alexis, marketing executive, said: “The commitment shown by the club in helping grassroots sports, community groups and especially the disabled is simply breath-taking and we know that every penny of our investment will go in to making a real difference at grassroots level.”
Craig Leslie, chairman of the Leslie Sports Foundation, said: “I cannot speak highly enough about Stafflex’s contribution to assist our community sports charity. Stafflex have given us financial sponsorship support – affecting the hundreds of adults and children who enjoy watching and participating in sport at our complex. It has helped us massively to maintain extremely high facility standards, thus increasing the number of people who can participate.”
The club has also been at the forefront of creating opportunities for adults with learning disabilities with the Employability Kirklees Pilot Project which launched in 2018. This 12 week course takes groups of adults not in education or employment and offers the opportunity to volunteer at Shelley FC games, and at events run by Huddersfield Town Foundation furthering their future employability prospects.
Another community initiative that has the backing of Stafflex is Huddersfield Live, a not for profit events company founded as a direct result of their sponsorship of the Big Screen Weekends attended by thousands of people in August 2015. The success encouraged Stafflex and other local businesses to create the events company with the aim of running community-focused sporting and cultural events to showcase the finest the region has to offer. Stafflex, as a ‘founding partner’ provided a significant share of the start-up cash required to get Huddersfield Live off the ground.
Huddersfield Live organizes the hugely successful Huddersfield Food and Drink Festival which has grown into one of the largest of its kind in the UK, regularly attracting 150,000 visitors.
Over the last couple of years Stafflex has focused its efforts on supporting the Artisan Zone which is a dedicated area of market stalls for small businesses at the festival. The area offers discounted setup costs enabling them to sell unique, locally produced food and drink to the public, which would have otherwise been out of their budget.
Stafflex teamed up with the not-for-profit organisation fairandfunky to deliver educational workshops on recycling, the environment and fair trade in local schools.
Together, they run a highly successful scheme to provide a custom-built stationary bike fitted with a blender to produce nutritious smoothies. A number of primary and secondary schools across Kirklees have benefited from using the bike.
The partnership promotes sustainable lifestyles in a fun, engaging way through encouraging exercise while reducing food waste. This underlines Stafflex’s responsibility as a local employer to support initiatives that educate young people on key issues in a fun and interactive way.
The Welcome Centre, is a local food bank and one of the largest in the north of England. They also provide additional services such as advice, guidance and support to those who need it.
Twice a year, Stafflex’s full-time team are given an afternoon away from their desks to undertake voluntary work with the majority choosing to help at the Welcome Centre. Stafflex is also a corporate partner providing annual funding to the charity which helps with running costs and stock purchases for client food packs.
Emma Greenough, Fundraising Manager at The Welcome Centre, said: “As a small charity, the generous support of the local business community helps us to keep up with the demand for our service. The Welcome Centre has grown year on year, and is now giving out more than 22,000 meals worth of food per month. A donation of £1,000 means a lot to us, and we hope more charity minded businesses like Stafflex show their support.”
Click here to learn more about Stafflex's CSR policy and the charities, projects and initiatives they've supported over the last 12 months.