Rosie Begley
Social Impact Manager, Applegreen
By partnering with charities, companies get the chance to do good and inspire their employees, says Rosie Begley, Social Impact Manager at roadside retailer Applegreen.
Do employees appreciate it when their companies partner with charities?
I think they want to work for companies that offer volunteering opportunities and community engagement. It says something about an organisation’s values. We began a three-year partnership with the children’s charity Barretstown in 2023, and our people love it.
It’s a great charity founded in 1994 by the late Hollywood actor, Paul Newman, based at Barretstown Castle in County Kildare. It offers free, specially designed camps and programmes for children and their families living with a serious illness. Part of our activities include sponsoring their week-long Summer Camp and their Winter Wonderland Christmas event.
We’ve already raised €1.6 million.
We couldn’t have done that without
the generosity of our communities.
What inspired the partnership?
This partnership aligns perfectly with our core values—especially our commitment to placing communities at the heart of everything we do. Families connected to Barretstown often travel long distances for treatment and stop at our service stations across the country. We want to be there for them on their journey.
How many families are expected to benefit from your support?
More than 27,000. From the outset, we made a commitment to raise €1 million over three years to support over 3,000 days of the charity’s therapeutic camp programmes. We’ve already raised €1.6 million. We couldn’t have done that without the generosity of our communities.
How have your employees been involved in the partnership?
They’ve taken part in volunteer days to prepare for upcoming Barretstown camps, doing things like painting, sweeping and cleaning accommodation. They also get involved in fundraising activities. For example, this August, over 100 of us are taking part in the three-day Barretstown Cycle Challenge. Apart from fundraising, it’s also a team-building event.
What have been some memorable moments in the partnership?
Hitting our €1 million target ahead of time was one. Also, in March last year, we won first prize in the Blackstone Gives Back Challenge, a competition administered by the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, invites CEOs of Blackstone portfolio companies to pitch nonprofits to receive financial support. That secured $300,000 for Barretstown and was a huge milestone for us.
