MITIE, the strategic outsourcing and asset management company is supporting Naomi House in the organisation and delivery of their annual event – The 26-mile Clarendon Way Walk, on Sunday 7 June 2009. 

Naomi House Children's Hospice opened in June 1997 to provide respite care, terminal care and bereavement support for children and families from across the south of England. The charity provides care and support to children, young people and their families from the counties of Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Surrey, West Sussex and Wiltshire. It costs over £2.5 million a year to provide and extend the service, and with just 10% of funding coming from Government, Naomi House is dependent upon voluntary and charitable support. 

MITIE have been supporting Naomi House since 2006 as its southern regional charity. However, on top of its normal fundraising efforts, MITIE has this year decided to play an even more active role by helping to organise the 26-mile walk. 

Apart from the many MITIE people that will be taking part in the sponsored walk and others that have volunteered as race administrators, MITIE will be supplying T-shirts and medals for all the winners and providing the portaloos around the course. MITIE will also be supplying drivers and vans to distribute water to the walkers and to collect any charity goods, which might be donated on the day. MITIE’s catering team is also preparing 300 packed lunches, which will be sold to the walkers for charity. There will also be MITIE Treehugger recycling stations around the course to collect and recycle any waste.

All its efforts will go towards making this year’s Clarendon Way Walk even bigger and better. 

Last year the event raised over £100,000 with a total of 650 walkers completing the 26-mile walk. Naomi House hopes 2009 will raise even more and have welcomed engagement with local businesses to help deliver the event. 

Colin Elcock, a Business Development Manager at MITIE, commented: 

“We understand the importance of supporting the communities that we work in, and when we say we’re passionate about helping our chosen charities, we really mean it. That’s why MITIE people from across the region will be helping to organise and administer the Clarendon Way Walk, as well as seeking sponsorship and taking part.” 

Janette Hollingbery, Chair of the Committee organising the walk, said: 

“It is with the help of businesses such as MITIE that staging such big events is possible for Naomi House. The Clarendon Way Walk covers 26 miles from Winchester Cathedral to Salisbury Cathedral and is expected to raise over £125,000 this year which will go towards keeping the doors of Naomi House open and the continued appeal for jacksplace, the teenage and young adult hospice, which is only the fourth of its kind in the country.

“The walk is hugely rewarding and employees who get involved through corporate sponsorship benefit from taking part in many ways and always have a great deal of fun too!” 

For further information, contact: 

David Revis, Investor Relations and PR Manager, MITIE Group PLC
T: 020 7034 7306, M: 07979 702465, E: mailto:david.revis@mitie.co.uk

Notes for editors

What is MITIE?
We’re the strategic outsourcing and asset management company.

What does that mean in practice? Providing everything from strategic consultancy, to world-class delivery on the ground. From long-term infrastructure planning, to facilities management, property and engineering services. Our strategic input can add value at the highest level, while our practical management expertise can save customers money and maximise their returns.

At the same time, it’s not just what we do, but how we do it that makes us different. Our people are passionate about what they do, committed to working in partnership with their clients, and will always look for a fresh answer to a new challenge.

We work with our clients in three ways; some take full advantage of our whole range of expertise by buying the whole suite, others may only need one aspect of what we do:

Strategy and consultancy

+ Facilities and project management

+ Service delivery

In other words, we think, we manage, and we deliver.

The thinking phase is all about finding strategic answers to long-term challenges about assets and resources. Facilities and project management puts those plans in place, and our unrivalled range of services is one of the best in the business.

There’s a lot more to MITIE than you probably think. We’re a big company with big ambitions - a leading FTSE 250 support services business, with 49,000+ people, revenues in excess of £1.4bn, and a reputation for being the best.