Lord Mayor's Dragon Awards reward London businesses with the ultimate 'helping high' for their excellence in Corporate Community Involvement
Last night, Lord Mayor John Stuttard awarded London businesses with the ultimate 'helping high' as they picked up prestigious Dragon Awards to recognise their achievements in Corporate Community Involvement. Law firms blazed the way with Trowers and Hamlins, Lovells LLP and Denton Wilde Sapte LLP each winning in separate categories; Merrill Lynch, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and Swanke Hayden Connell Architects were the other category winners. Individually, Giles Keating of Credit Suisse won the 'Volunteer of the Year' award, having been nominated by his charity partner, St. Mungo's.
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Volunteers Battle with Credit Suisse Dragons
With a £50,000 donation at stake for the winning cause, there was no shortage of applicants for Credit Suisse's first charity Dragon's Den competition. The five finalists came under close scrutiny from a panel of leading figures from the bank, as they explained why their charities deserved to carry the day.
Giles Keating - who as Credit Suisse's Head of Global Research is more accustomed than most to being grilled by his colleagues - ran through the tangible benefits of VoiceMail4All, a concept he has helped to develop. The service is currently available in London and is run in conjunction with St. Mungo's homeless charity and a number of partner projects, including street outreach and housing advice workers, day centers, hostels and health services to achieve maximum reach.
"The great thing about this project is the way it plugs into and leverages the existing network for homeless people," Keating explained to the Dragons. His ambition is to roll out the concept in other UK cities by April 2009 and possibly internationally in the future - an ambition facilitated by the £20,000 pound donation it won.
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Award winning St Mungo's service seeks partners for UK-wide roll out
VoiceMail4All, a free service provided by St Mungo's on behalf of charity Tech4all, which offers a free 0208 voicemail number to anyone in London who does not have a permanent place to stay, is seeking partners in order to roll out the service across the UK, to benefit people outside the capital.
On Wednesday 10th October 2007 Giles Keating, Chair of Tech4all and the driving force behind VoiceMail4All, who volunteers his time while working full time at Credit Suisse, was named Volunteer of the Year at the prestigious Lord Mayor's Dragon Awards. He said:
"Now that well over 1000 people have benefited from the VoiceMail4All service in London it is the right time to roll it out across the UK. The service has been hugely successful and we're very keen that others can benefit from it. I am delighted that this success has been recognised by the Lord Mayor's Dragon Awards."
He added:
"Our results have been achieved through strong teamwork and the support of many at Tech4all, St Mungo's and particularly those who work with vulnerable people day to day, whose commitment has really made this happen."
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