Sunday is a day we’d like to say thank you. Thank you to those who make, pack and deliver your tea. To those who work hard across our supply chain to make the products, you know and love. To those special people who make a difference in our community here in the North East and to those who open their doors to us week after week across the nation.
We’d also like to say a special thank you to some organisations that go above and beyond. Organisations that strive to make our world a better place, take an ethical view to tea production, and empower the people involved.
So today, we’re highlighting some charities and causes supported by the Ringtons Tea Growers Community Charitable Trust, the Community Foundation and the Ringtons Environment Fund…
The Ringtons Tea Growers Community Charitable Trust
Since 1907 (our founding year), tea has changed a lot, as has the world! We’ve gone from making our beloved cuppa with loose-leaf tea to tea bags. Remarkable technological advances have made processing and packing easy and efficient, ensuring tea tastes fresher for longer… We’re now delivering tea and more to your door in a fleet of electric vehicles instead of horse and cart, but there’s still a lot of change to happen.
Tea connects us all, drinking from your favourite mug at home, to Olivia, who delivered it to you. Debbie, who packed it at the Factory and Charlotte, who helped source it sustainably. Jake made sure it tasted great, and Graeme checked in with Nancy at Nduti in Kenya on how the crop was growing.
There are a lot of touchpoints on the tea’s journey to you, and it’s important we stay connected to its origin and those who make tea possible. The people who grow it, nurture it and feed it.
There are a lot of challenges faced by people in tea-growing communities, from climate change to gender equality. So, in 2013, we set up the Ringtons Tea Growers Community Charitable Trust to specifically support tea-growing communities overseas. To date, we have donated over £150,000 through the Trust to projects including water storage, pipes and guttering at 56 schools in Kenya, a solar lighting project to help children complete their homework in Malawi, an income diversification bee-keeping programme in Kenya, and a project to empower women and young people.
Projects are delivered by some incredible people, particularly those at the Ethical Tea Partnership, who are a catalyst for system change, benefiting everybody who works in tea. They work tirelessly to nurture safe and empowered tea-growing communities across the world.
We’ll share more information about the Ethical Tea Partnership in the coming weeks, but for now, check out their website and follow them on social media to learn more about their important work. Thank you!
The Community Foundation
Nadia Johnson (Associate Director) and Paul (Business Development Manager, B2B) deliver a cheque to our Staff Charity of the year 2022
Closer to home in the North East, we have an endowment fund with the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland. Ringtons set up the fund in 1996, and we have since supported over 252 causes across the North East, donating over £700,000. Ringtons has supported 12 charities in the past year, gifting £57,403.
Today, we thank the people who spend every day making a difference in people’s lives from the little big things that keep us going in times of need and cheer us up. Let’s raise a cuppa to:
Children North East and their drop-in sessions for neurodivergent young people
Skills for People and their social interaction programmes
Northumberland County Blind Association and the Chatter Box café
Newcastle & Gateshead Art Studio – in particular for the Chilli Studio
Bell View (Belford) and their weekly young at heart group
St Chad’s Community Project for providing nourishment, advice and company for the community
St Martin’s Centre Partnership – our staff charity of the year in 2022!
Young Enterprise and their milestone 60th anniversary
Newcastle Vision Support for keeping exercise accessible
The Children’s Foundation who delivered mental health well-being days to children aged 7-12 years
Grace House North East and their brilliant youth groups
Read more about the community foundation here.
The Ringtons Environment Fund
Left: Simon Smith (Ringtons CEO) and Colin Smith (Managing Director of Ringtons Tea Packing Division) help plant trees with Urban Green. Right: Tom Smith ( Associate Director) helps plant trees at Kielder with the Northumbrian Wildlife Trust
We work hard to understand the challenges faced by our industry and find ways to minimise our environmental impact, source more sustainability and champion brilliant projects that make a difference. It’s a journey, and we don’t have all the answers, but rest assured we’re working on it, and doing our bit to secure tea’s future for generations to come. Charlotte, our head of sustainability, will share a few articles in the coming weeks exploring climate change’s impact on tea. If you’ve any questions you’d like answered on the issue, don’t hesitate to comment below! For now, we’d like to touch on a fund that helps bio-diversity in our native North East…
The Ringtons Environment Fund supports local causes that focus on improving flora, fauna and the natural environment. We’ve encouraged people to get involved with us and had a brilliant time along the way, planting trees and releasing water voles into the wild.
It’s here we’d like to give Northumbrian Wildlife Trust a shout-out for their work in Kielder as well as Urban Green for helping us plant hundreds of trees in honour of the Queen’s Green Canopy.
Ringtons Thank You Gift Box, £19.99 | 2x Ringtons Gold Tea, Ringtons Premium Gold Instant Coffee, Ringtons Ginger Snaps, Ringtons Milk Chocolate Caramel Wafers, Ringtons Triple Chocolate Cookies, Ringtons Shortbread Biscuits.
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