Navigator handed over a cheque to Paulo from Sands with Tom Smith, Hannah Salton and Olivia Withers (all of Navigator)
SANDS is the stillbirth and neonatal death charity. Sands exists to reduce the number of babies dying and to support anyone affected by the death of a baby, before, during or shortly after birth, whenever this happened and for as long as they need support.
Currently in the UK, 13 families a day suffer the heartbreak of losing their baby before, during or shortly after birth. That’s around 4,500 babies a year. And at least 15% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. These numbers are shocking and show the scale of the problem.
At the end of the year, the team at Navigator managed to raise a grand total of £5,118. Sands was immensely grateful with the amount handed over and it was great hearing all about the fantastic work they do within the community. Paolo and Dalbir are both volunteers at Sands and work hard with the different support groups and events they plan.
The money was raised as a result of a number of events organised during the year - the virtual Bedford to Beijing walk by team members counting the steps they made day to day, the Charity Golf Day held at Pavenham Golf Club in July, a Charity Buffet, a number of Dress Down Days, with Guess the Amount of Sweets in the Jar and Raffles, and The Great Navigator Bake Off.
This was the final charity drop off of 2024. It’s been a phenomenally successful year of charity work, from the £1000 raised for Kids in Action, £5,118 raised for Sands Bedfordshire, and the Christmas collections for Keech Hospice. Thanks go to everyone in the company for all their support –it will be interesting to see what next year has in store.
Managing Director Andrew Smith says he’s proud of the employees in the fundraising team and with what they have achieved over the past twelve months: “A company thrives because of the quality of its employees and we are blessed to have a team of people willing to give of their time and resources to help locally based charities that are struggling for funds at this difficult time. As a business we are pleased to support their efforts and acknowledge the efforts that they make to help people less fortunate than themselves.”