SalesStar UK has chosen Greenhouse Sports as its charity partner of the year, pledging to raise a minimum of £10,000 to support their work with young people in 2022.
The Huddersfield-based firm has made the five-figure commitment as part of a sponsorship agreement with British Rugby League star Jamie Peacock MBE and sports agency founder Simon Dent.
The sporting pair are set to complete a 100-mile ultra-marathon challenge, named ‘Run for The Roof’, to help raise awareness and funds for vital roof repairs for its London youth hub, The Greenhouse Centre.
SalesStar UK is to be the headline sponsor of this challenge and Pete Evans, practice partner at SalesStar UK, said: “Greenhouse Sports is a charity which does some amazing work with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“It empowers young people and enhances their life chances through sports coaching and activities, and we believe sport should be accessible to everyone regardless of their background.”
Greenhouse Sports currently works with about 7,500 young people providing sports coaching and mentoring at schools across London. The charity’s HQ and community sports centre, the Greenhouse Centre, is housed in a Grade II-listed former church in North Westminster. It had to close temporarily in December when safety issues were raised over the roof and extensive repairs are needed to secure the building’s long-term future as a community sports centre.
To kickstart the fundraising, Pete Evans and Gemma Betts of SalesStar UK will run the first ten miles of the ‘Run for the Roof’ challenge alongside Jamie and Simon.
Pete added: “The Greenhouse Centre helps some of the most vulnerable young people and their families in one of the most deprived wards of London.
“We want to help keep the young people together and back receiving coaching under this one roof and that’s why we’ve made our sponsorship commitment.
“The ultra-marathon will be a serious challenge for Jamie and Simon. Gemma and I are showing our support by running the first ten miles but I think we need to leave the 100 miles to the proper athletes!”
Throughout the rest of 2022, various members of the SalesStar team will raise funds via a number of sponsored challenges including the Yorkshire Three Peaks in June and a long-distance bicycle ride in September.
Every penny raised will support Greenhouse Sports’ ongoing work and efforts to transform the lives of young people growing up in disadvantaged communities.
Commenting, Jamie Peacock MBE said: “I’ve been blown away by the work of Greenhouse Sports and how they change lives and I’m ready to put myself through the pain barrier to make a real difference.
“We are grateful to the whole team at SalesStar UK for their support and we’ll make sure we look after Pete and Gemma over those first ten miles. They’ve both made a great commitment to the cause and hopefully that will inspire others to go the extra mile – or ten!”
Greenhouse Sports works in partnership with schools providing sports coaches to deliver extra-curricular, inspirational coaching and mentoring programmes. The charity has worked with more than 50,000 young people since 2002, and celebrates its 20th anniversary year in 2022.
Béatrice Butsana-Sita CEO of Greenhouse Sports said: “Without the support of companies such as SalesStar UK the charity would not have been able to help tens of thousands of children over the last two decades.
“As we celebrate our 20th year, our specialised sports coaching and mentoring programmes are now looking outside London to other communities across the UK. It is frankly staggering to know there are at least 4 million children across the UK that fit the profile of who we support.
“It is inspirational for our coaches to have the backing of an organisation like SalesStar UK, working with us to help level up the life chances of children wherever they are in the UK.”
