An industrial and commercial refurbishment specialist has carried out its own version of a DIY SOS makeover to say thank you for the care received by an employee.
More than 50 staff from Inco Contracts lent their hand to five different projects at St Gile’s Hospice’s Lichfield base over two days last week.
The Penkridge-based company spent over £40,000 in materials and 320 volunteering hours with carpenters, electricians, office staff and sub-contractors all involved.
Tasks included refurbishing a roof terrace area, cleaning 13 patient patio spaces, sprucing up the children’s area and bringing a fountain back to life.
The challenge was in memory of Paul Finch, known as Fina, who worked as a Site Manager for the business from 2010, before falling ill with cancer and being cared for at St Giles.
“We are very passionate about the area we work in and wanted to give something back, starting the Inco Foundation in 2020,” explained David Cotterill, Director at Inco.
“This year unfortunately we lost a much-loved colleague Paul Finch and we wanted to make 2023 all about supporting the amazing St Giles Hospice in Lichfield who looked after him and his family so well.”
He continued: “Collectively, we came up with the idea of doing our own DIY SOS Challenge and this quickly grew from a chance conversation to a wish list of five refurbishment projects that could be completed over two days.
“We are delighted to say that the response from staff, suppliers and customers has been amazing with an ‘A-Team’ of 50 people coming together to complete all the different tasks on time.”
Fellow director Sam Norton added: “The quality of the work, despite the efforts of a few office novices, was exceptional and I’m sure Paul would have been impressed with what we have achieved.”
Hannah Fahy, Head of Fundraising at St Giles Hospice, said: “As a charity, we have to think carefully where we spend our money, so to have Inco come in and complete all of this work for free is wonderful.
“Over £40,000 of materials have been donated and hundreds of hours of craft skills channelled into this DIY SOS, and it will make such a huge difference to the experience of patients, and their loved ones.
“For example, the garden patio transformation will now give them a relaxing space to spend quality time together.”
