Even in ‘ordinary’, ‘precedented’, ‘normal’ times, at Kelly’s Storage we have always believed we have a responsibility to support the communities we serve. These strange, extraordinary, unprecedented times do not change that. They simply make it even more important for us to continue to uphold our values and do what we do well.
Kelly’s Care…..since 1937. That was our original motto and yes, we really have been doing this for that long! And although our offering and our services have developed over that time, our steadfast commitment to consciously make a positive impact on our community, our customers, our families, our environment, and each other, is as strong as ever.
The Kelly's Family
We are a 3rd generation family-run business and we are really proud of being a British SME. We believe it is our small size that has made us agile, able to respond quickly and efficiently to changing times and technologies whilst remaining completely connected to our customers in the ways that matter to them.
Over the years, as we have grown, we have never lost sight that it is caring, genuinely, that matters. As long as we continue to do that, we can never go too far wrong.
The Current COVID-19 Situation
So we are trying to help those who care as their job, those who care for the sick, the vulnerable, the elderly, and the alone. They are doing the most incredible job in the hardest of circumstances, at huge personal risk to themselves and we simply want to say “We stand with you, we thank you, we are here for you as you are for us”.
In the early, strange days of the lockdown, we felt helpless and adrift, like everyone across the nation, and our CEO, Paul Martin decided to take immediate action. “I felt that nothing would help our community and each other more than simply putting the offer of help out there so I decided to send an email doing exactly that and just seeing what response we got.” The text of that email was as follows.
“During this unprecedented time when many are isolated, Britain’s delivery drivers will be the lifeline to many homes across the country. Our NHS workers, emergency services, the isolated, the vulnerable, the elderly and those who care for them and keep our country moving all need our support more now than ever.
If you or anyone you know needs anything delivered or collected and we can help, we will do this free of charge during these difficult times. We have a fleet of vehicles and a team of volunteer drivers and support staff who can help deliver to those isolated.”
Reaching out to Locals
What happened following that email was simply amazing. We were immediately contacted by a customer who had been forced to shield immediately due to her son’s illnesses. This was before the NHS volunteer response had been set up and so we were able to come to the rescue, collecting their much-needed prescription from the pharmacy and delivering it to them whilst maintaining social distancing and keeping a vulnerable individual shielded and safe.
This was exactly the sort of thing we had hoped we might be able to help with but the next call we received really took it further!
Hand Sanitizer for Solventis
In response to the shortage of hand sanitizer for health workers, a Surrey chemical company had risen to the challenge. Solventis, whose head office is based in Guildford, commissioned 10 tonnes of clinical hand sanitizer to be produced for over 150 doctors’ surgeries and hospitals throughout Surrey.
But they needed someone to distribute it all and luckily they had heard of our initiative to help and we completed every single delivery free of charge in order to help thousands of front-line medical staff to stay safe and prevent the spread of infection in the current Covid-19 pandemic.
“We don’t make hand sanitizer ordinarily but, as a chemical company, we have access to the key ingredient, alcohol. Once we heard of the shortage, we joined forces with a packaging company, Cleenol, and local company Kelly’s Storage to get this essential product into health care outlets as quickly as possible,” said David Lubbock CEO of Solventis.
The phones carried on ringing…….
Boxes for East Elmbridge Food Bank
We donated 50 of our boxes to East Elmbridge Food Bank in Esher to enable them to continue their vital work at short notice.
Hand Santizer for Farnham Road Hospital
We explained our offer of help to the lovely people at BBC Radio Surrey and were able to get hand sanitiser out, free of charge, to Farnham Road Hospital who were in desperate need.
Hand Sanitizer for Home Instead Senior Care
Another example of our local community working together, a member of the Surrey Chambers of Commerce, Home Instead Senior Care, spotted our offer via their social media and we were able to get more hand sanitiser out to them and help to protect their staff and residents.
Delivery of Healthy Drinks to Hospitals for Esprala
One of our business storage customers, Esprala, got in touch to say that they were donating 15,000 healthy drinks to the major hospitals in Surrey and London and they would need to get them out of storage. Our Business Development Manager, Chris, picked up the call and immediately knew we had to help and decided to distribute them all free of charge.
NHS Staff Discount on Contact-Free Storage
As a team, we wanted to continue to provide support to our wonderful NHS workers and so we decided to offer our contactless transport collections completely free of charge for any NHS staff in need of storage services at this time. To access free transport simply go to our website www.kellystorage.co.uk and use your NHS email, or call us to discuss.
Kelly's Storage Virtual Charity Event!
Finally, we would like to ask you for your help. At Kelly’s we have always believed in doing things a bit differently and so, back in 2010, we applied our innovative approach to business to charitable giving as well and set up Kelly’s Storage Charity Events which has raised over £650,000 to date for local charities.
Our whole team gets involved and gives their time, energy, and expertise to ensure that every single penny raised from the large, professional sporting events that we lay on goes directly to the charity.
COVID-19 has created a huge challenge for charities whose funding has been massively reduced. These charities are lifelines for the vulnerable in our communities and they desperately need our support. Like so many others, all our fund-raising events have been canceled but we are determined to keep up the momentum and do whatever we can to continue to help charities through these difficult times.
We have set up Kelly’s Storage Virtual Events and raised £7,600 since the second week of the lockdown thanks to an army of supporters from our fantastic customers & suppliers to friends & families to supporters of the charities & of our live events.
How to get involved with our virtual Charity events
To join our Kelly’s Army, simply visit our website https://charity.kellystorage.co.uk/ and choose your challenge.
Pick a total distance to run, walk or cycle before the end of May and make every mile count. Motivate yourself knowing that you have made a difference. Follow Captain Tom’s example and go further, get friends and family to sponsor you! We have made it really straightforward to take part and to raise funds too if you wish. We ask you to donate as little as £1 per child and £5 per adult which goes straight to local charities. We would love to get more people involved in helping charities whilst keeping fit with the family.
We can’t move houses at the moment but we are still trying to move mountains, at a safe distance of course!
Our Contact-Free Storage Solution
Along with our community outreach work, we are offering contactless delivery and collection of our storage units, allowing our customers to continue with their de-cluttering and clearouts whilst respecting social distancing and keeping our community safe.
If you need our services don’t hesitate to give us a call or click here to get a quote.
Thank you for reading, we really appreciate you taking the time, we realise there’s a lot of information out there at the moment. We wanted to share our news and a bit of what we have done to care for the extraordinary people in our community who are working so hard to care for us all and keep us safe.
We would love you to share these stories and, if you know anyone in our community who is vulnerable, in need, at risk, please put us in touch – if we can help, we will.
Thank you,, we wish you and yours the very best. Stay home and stay safe.
Yours,
The Kelly’s Storage Team
Together Apart. Kelly’s Care…since 1937
If you need help or know anyone who does please contact our Head of Customer Experience, Amy Mepham amy.mepham@kellystorage.co.uk .
