Rowathons and Keepy Uppies

A huge thank you to the staff at Macquarie Group for organising two events in their office during Foundation Week in October, a week dedicated to raising awareness of the work the Macquarie Group Foundation does to support its partner charities, and to encourage staff to donate or get involved.

Our partnership with Macquarie has developed over the past 6 years, beginning with a few employees volunteering weekly as mentors in Hackney. The company now encourages its staff to volunteer both as mentors and fundraisers, provides bro-bono office support, training and development opportunities for ReachOut staff, as well as regularly organising workshops for the young people on ReachOut’s projects.

During Foundation Week staff organised a lunch break Keepy Uppy competition in the dining area where staff could show off their footballing talents, as well as a Rowathon in the lobby to see how fast competitors could row 1000m. The Macquarie Group Foundation generously matched all donations to ReachOut during the week 2 for 1. As a result, Macquarie staff raised over £6000 for ReachOut!

Thanks and well done to all involved! 

Watch the video here: 

The ReachOut team set the scene.

Contestants dazzle observers with their skills.

High heels didn't stop the ladies getting involved...

...though they were removed for the actual challenge!

One contestant was so keen to win that he tore open his shirt in the effort! (Thankfully he did actually win in the end!)

Macquarie employees learn about ReachOut while rowing

Maquarie CEO David Fass and Macquarie Group Foundation Manager Rachel Engel are impressed by the leader board.

The leader board at the end of an energetic lunch break!

Keepy Uppy champions Katerina and Adam pose for the cameras after receiving their prizes.