Vinci Foundation supports Martin House Children’s Hospice
As one of Vinci’s UK specialist companies, Soil Engineering have been able to support Martin House Children’s Hospice in obtaining a Vinci Foundation grant enabling a new garden to be built.
The Sanctuary Garden, a nod to the Hospice’s founding by the Archdeacon of York and the Chaplaincy building it sits outside, will provide an accessible outdoor area of calm in the gardens of the hospice. With the site about to undergo a major redevelopment, this additional facility will help Martin House’s staff provide care for many children and young people over the next few years. The Vinci Foundation grant has contributed towards the construction cost of the new garden. Formerly a grassed area, like much of the Hospice’s grounds, the new garden boasts a water feature, accessible resin and wooden pathways, and a variety of planting better suited to its shady and secluded setting. Amidst the inevitable noise of the refurbishment project, its sheltered setting away from the main building will provide a genuine sanctuary for children receiving onsite care.
How did Soil Engineering become involved? And why the Vinci Foundation?
The Vinci Foundation seeks to support social inclusion across the UK, through providing funding to capital projects in a wide variety of settings. Applications need to be supported by a staff member from a Vinci company although the Foundation are also able to pair projects to sponsors if necessary. The project sponsor provides support to the recipient throughout the project itself, meaning that the donation from within the Vinci Group is not purely financial, but related to skills and experience sharing too. Hearing of the hospice’s fundraising campaign, Soil Engineering’s Business Development Manager, Simon Baxter, approached Vicki Greensmith (Director of Clinical Services) to see if the foundation could help. Collaborating with the Hospice’s team, an application was summitted and a grant of almost £4000 was the successful outcome! Simon has since worked with the Hospice on project programme review, drawing on his project management experience in over 20 years at Soil Engineering, and has made several visits to see how the project is coming along. His latest visit coincided with the near completion of the construction stage of works, with a few delays caused by the particularly wet Yorkshire autumn. With planting of the garden just competed, he’ll be back in the spring to see the finished scheme once it’s all bedded in.
You can learn more about the work Martin House undertakes here, while anyone wishing to apply to the Vinci Foundation for a grant in the next season of applications can find out more about the process here.
