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GET0004339-International Volunteers Day HZL 049

Claire added: “The Give … A Few Words campaign is close to our hearts at Lubrizol and it’s amazing to see employees from our offices all around the world taking part. As well as writing letters, last year we held a craft workshop and employees came and wrote Christmas cards, made Christmas themed origami decorations and pained decorations too. We plan to do the same this year at all our sites across the UK. This is a really simple way for employees to take 5 minutes out of their day and make a huge difference to someone else, we all had so much fun!

Claire Hollinghurst

Lubrizol’s charities and communities committee

Give … A Few Words has inspired a company to ‘go global’ with its letter writing to people here in Huddersfield.

Science company Lubrizol, which has a base on the Syngenta site on Leeds Road (in Huddersfield), manufactures chemical additives vital for inks and paints and employs 43 people in the town and many more worldwide.

The company has been keen to support Give … A Few Words ever since we started but news about the letter-writing quickly spread throughout the company and now employees worldwide love to write letters to others who are lonely and isolated.

Claire Hollingshurst from Lubrizol’s charities and communities committee said: “As part of our support we promote this campaign to our global employees as part of our Global Month of Impact which is held in May or June and also our International Volunteers Day activities early in December.

“For each campaign we normally get between 24 and 55 participants with other sites across the globe taking part too. We have volunteers writing across the UK, Mexico, our headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio and some other US sites too plus Spain, India and Singapore.”

Lubrizol is a regular corporate supporter and Give… A Few Words founder Sharron Wilkinson says: “There is something really special about letters coming from Saudi Arabia and America. You get to hear from such a diverse range of people all who have different voices and different viewpoints.

“Anyone who receives these letters, just can’t believe that someone who they don’t know makes this amount of effort to do something for them with nothing expected in return. It makes people very emotional. This is a #gift of letters.

“We are very grateful for the support of everyone at Lubrizol and for some amazing words, stories and photos from employees across the globe.”

One letter-writer from Lubrizol is 21-year-old Nathan Sawyer who said he was keen to take part in the campaign because he knows the value of maintaining communications with elderly people living on their own.

Nathan, whose younger cousin contributed drawings to his letter, said: “It was a nice thing to do. It made me think of my grandma because she lives on her own and I know she would really appreciate something like that.

“I see this through the lens of my grandma. I see how much benefit it brings. I spare five or ten minutes out of my day to give her a call – it’s really sad to know that some people don’t have that.”

Another letter writer is Victoria Hurst, an account manager at Lubrizol, who said: “I chose someone to write to who likes the outdoors and dogs and I found it easy to relate. It was nice to choose who to write to and make it a lot more personal.”

People who have received letters through the campaign have said how emotional they find it, with children of elderly recipients reporting they enjoy the process of reading the letters out loud to their mums and dads.

“There’s something so simple but so special about writing letters and we’re delighted to be playing a role in keeping this vital project going.”

FTI consulting internships make a big impact

Global consulting firm FTI Consulting, which has nearly 8000 employees across 32 countries, contacted Give…A Few Words earlier this year wishing to partner for the 2nd year running to deliver a volunteering activity for its summer internship programme in July.

Over 23 interns based in London got involved writing empathetic and heartwarming letters and creating artwork especially for others. The interests that the interns covered were wide and diverse, sharing words about swimming in the Scottish lochs, watching the Tour De France, playing the piano and many more.

Give…A Few Words founder, Sharron Wilkinson said:

“The interns at FTI Consulting really embraced the letter writing and their letters were creative, imaginative and truly sensitive to the needs of others. They covered such a wide variety of interests, and we are truly thankful to all at FTI Consulting for thinking of others and for being part of our amazing 2025 team of contributors.

FTI Consulting Senior Manager of Corporate Citizenship, Hillary McDonald-Taubman also commented:-

“At FTI Consulting, we believe it’s our responsibility to give back to our communities in ways that are meaningful to them. We love partnering with Give…A Few Words to provide our interns with an opportunity to engage in our Corporate Citizenship Programme in a way that allows us to make a big impact in a small amount of time.

For our interns, being able to share their varied experiences with the recipients of the letters is often a highlight of their time with us, and we love that we get to bring some cheer into the lives of those who may be feeling lonely and isolated.”

Letter from America … and the rest of the world thanks to global company Showpad

Worldwide brand Showpad, which specialises in helping companies maximise sales, heard about Give…A Few Words and thought it would be ideal for some of their staff to get involved.

The company, based in Ghent, Belgium, and Chicago, USA, sets aside part of one day a year for employees to spend time helping a charity or worthwhile cause.

Help for Give … A Few Words was organised by Manchester-based Rob Hope-Murray from Showpad and ultimately involved staff in Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Romania, UK and Canada.

Rob said: “We wanted to give something back to the community and thought this was a great way to do it as the letters could come from anywhere in the world.

“Give … A Few Words has hit on something that was rarely talked about before covid – and that’s about people living in loneliness and isolation. It’s hard to imagine that some elderly people have lost all their relatives but, sadly, that can be the case.

“What Sharron and her volunteers are doing is absolutely brilliant and it was very beneficial to step back from the pressure of work, think about how we can look after one another better and spread positivity, along with kind thoughts.

“All the employees were super enthusiastic and some even wanted to get their children involved. After all, there is a danger in this technological age that letter writing becomes a dying art.”

One German employee wrote a letter and sent it off with a jigsaw his son had made.

Rob added: “There was a snowstorm in Ghent that day and it was a real struggle for some of the staff to get into the office, while others who had opted to go litter picking also joined the letter writers instead due to the snow.

“Some found the letter-writing therapeutic, especially after the stress and hassle the bad weather had caused. Having to think of something positive to write and then also thinking about the people who would receive the letters was really heartwarming.”

Rob said it can be hard to find a charity or good cause that would only want help for a few hours for one day but Give … A Few Words fitted the bill perfectly.

The day was split into six sessions (Europe and USA) with online groups and Sharron and Rob talked a bit about Give…A Few Words and its aims first and then the groups discussed what they were going to do and shared ideas before writing their individual letters.

By the end of the day 38 letters were in their way to very grateful recipients in Kirklees. Many live in care homes or are being supported by charities and voluntary groups.

Give … A Few Words now has more than 850 letter writers all around the world.

Why staff at insurance company RSA Insurance love to help Give … A Few Words

RSA Insurance, an Intact company, is a big supporter of Give … A Few Words and their kind-hearted staff love to write letters and cards to people who may be lonely or isolated.

The RSA office in Halifax site has 500 employees and many have written for Give … A Few Words over the last three years. In fact, it’s become so popular among staff that other RSA sites in Manchester, Liverpool and Sunderland are now getting involved too.

RSA Halifax has its own charity committee and its chair, Elaine Clough, explains: “The great thing about writing cards and letters is that it can be done in and among a busy working day. All of us have family, friends and neighbours and understand that for some people, especially the elderly, they can be living isolated or lonely lives.

“In this day and age it’s wonderful to receive a personally written card or letter and those kind words count so much.”

She says Give … A Few Words founder Sharron Wilkinson gives RSA Halifax a list of people to write to each month and then the employees do the rest.

Elaine adds: “We send off at least 25 letters, sometimes more, each month. We are given a name and their interests and then match them to our RSA letter writers. I love travelling, the scouts and gardening so I write to people with similar interests, perhaps telling them all about my allotment.”

Elaine says letter writing fits in perfectly with RSA Halifax’s core work of dealing with insurance claims.

She adds: “RSA Halifax deals with a lot of claims, so we’re often talking to people at a traumatic time in their lives. It means the team here has a lot of natural empathy.

“These skills and a genuine interest in people, their feelings and emotions, means the letters we send are written from the heart. If it’s a special birthday, such as 100th^,, we’ll get lots of cards for the staff to write.

“It can be more than writing letters. Some write poetry, I recently sent a lady a recipe while others make their own cards to send.

“It’s something we all love to do.”

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Business Stories

Claire Hollinghurst

Lubrizol’s charities and communities committee

Give … A Few Words has inspired a company to ‘go global’ with its letter writing to people here in Huddersfield.

Science company Lubrizol, which has a base on the Syngenta site on Leeds Road (in Huddersfield), manufactures chemical additives vital for inks and paints and employs 43 people in the town and many more worldwide.

The company has been keen to support Give … A Few Words ever since we started but news about the letter-writing quickly spread throughout the company and now employees worldwide love to write letters to others who are lonely and isolated.

Claire Hollingshurst from Lubrizol’s charities and communities committee said: “As part of our support we promote this campaign to our global employees as part of our Global Month of Impact which is held in May or June and also our International Volunteers Day activities early in December.

“For each campaign we normally get between 24 and 55 participants with other sites across the globe taking part too. We have volunteers writing across the UK, Mexico, our headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio and some other US sites too plus Spain, India and Singapore.”

Lubrizol is a regular corporate supporter and Give… A Few Words founder Sharron Wilkinson says: “There is something really special about letters coming from Saudi Arabia and America. You get to hear from such a diverse range of people all who have different voices and different viewpoints.

“Anyone who receives these letters, just can’t believe that someone who they don’t know makes this amount of effort to do something for them with nothing expected in return. It makes people very emotional. This is a #gift of letters.

“We are very grateful for the support of everyone at Lubrizol and for some amazing words, stories and photos from employees across the globe.”

One letter-writer from Lubrizol is 21-year-old Nathan Sawyer who said he was keen to take part in the campaign because he knows the value of maintaining communications with elderly people living on their own.

Nathan, whose younger cousin contributed drawings to his letter, said: “It was a nice thing to do. It made me think of my grandma because she lives on her own and I know she would really appreciate something like that.

“I see this through the lens of my grandma. I see how much benefit it brings. I spare five or ten minutes out of my day to give her a call – it’s really sad to know that some people don’t have that.”

Another letter writer is Victoria Hurst, an account manager at Lubrizol, who said: “I chose someone to write to who likes the outdoors and dogs and I found it easy to relate. It was nice to choose who to write to and make it a lot more personal.”

People who have received letters through the campaign have said how emotional they find it, with children of elderly recipients reporting they enjoy the process of reading the letters out loud to their mums and dads.

“There’s something so simple but so special about writing letters and we’re delighted to be playing a role in keeping this vital project going.”

FTI consulting internships make a big impact

Global consulting firm FTI Consulting, which has nearly 8000 employees across 32 countries, contacted Give…A Few Words earlier this year wishing to partner for the 2nd year running to deliver a volunteering activity for its summer internship programme in July.

Give…A Few Words founder, Sharron Wilkinson said:

FTI Consulting Senior Manager of Corporate Citizenship, Hillary McDonald-Taubman also commented:-

For our interns, being able to share their varied experiences with the recipients of the letters is often a highlight of their time with us, and we love that we get to bring some cheer into the lives of those who may be feeling lonely and isolated.”

Letter from America … and the rest of the world thanks to global company Showpad

Worldwide brand Showpad, which specialises in helping companies maximise sales, heard about Give…A Few Words and thought it would be ideal for some of their staff to get involved.

The company, based in Ghent, Belgium, and Chicago, USA, sets aside part of one day a year for employees to spend time helping a charity or worthwhile cause.

Help for Give … A Few Words was organised by Manchester-based Rob Hope-Murray from Showpad and ultimately involved staff in Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Romania, UK and Canada.

Rob said: “We wanted to give something back to the community and thought this was a great way to do it as the letters could come from anywhere in the world.

“Give … A Few Words has hit on something that was rarely talked about before covid – and that’s about people living in loneliness and isolation. It’s hard to imagine that some elderly people have lost all their relatives but, sadly, that can be the case.

“What Sharron and her volunteers are doing is absolutely brilliant and it was very beneficial to step back from the pressure of work, think about how we can look after one another better and spread positivity, along with kind thoughts.

“All the employees were super enthusiastic and some even wanted to get their children involved. After all, there is a danger in this technological age that letter writing becomes a dying art.”

One German employee wrote a letter and sent it off with a jigsaw his son had made.

Rob added: “There was a snowstorm in Ghent that day and it was a real struggle for some of the staff to get into the office, while others who had opted to go litter picking also joined the letter writers instead due to the snow.

“Some found the letter-writing therapeutic, especially after the stress and hassle the bad weather had caused. Having to think of something positive to write and then also thinking about the people who would receive the letters was really heartwarming.”

Rob said it can be hard to find a charity or good cause that would only want help for a few hours for one day but Give … A Few Words fitted the bill perfectly.

The day was split into six sessions (Europe and USA) with online groups and Sharron and Rob talked a bit about Give…A Few Words and its aims first and then the groups discussed what they were going to do and shared ideas before writing their individual letters.

By the end of the day 38 letters were in their way to very grateful recipients in Kirklees. Many live in care homes or are being supported by charities and voluntary groups.

Give … A Few Words now has more than 850 letter writers all around the world.

Why staff at insurance company RSA Insurance love to help Give … A Few Words

RSA Insurance, an Intact company, is a big supporter of Give … A Few Words and their kind-hearted staff love to write letters and cards to people who may be lonely or isolated.

The RSA office in Halifax site has 500 employees and many have written for Give … A Few Words over the last three years. In fact, it’s become so popular among staff that other RSA sites in Manchester, Liverpool and Sunderland are now getting involved too.

“In this day and age it’s wonderful to receive a personally written card or letter and those kind words count so much.”

She says Give … A Few Words founder Sharron Wilkinson gives RSA Halifax a list of people to write to each month and then the employees do the rest.

Elaine says letter writing fits in perfectly with RSA Halifax’s core work of dealing with insurance claims.

She adds: “RSA Halifax deals with a lot of claims, so we’re often talking to people at a traumatic time in their lives. It means the team here has a lot of natural empathy.

“These skills and a genuine interest in people, their feelings and emotions, means the letters we send are written from the heart. If it’s a special birthday, such as 100th,, we’ll get lots of cards for the staff to write.

“It can be more than writing letters. Some write poetry, I recently sent a lady a recipe while others make their own cards to send.

“It’s something we all love to do.”

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“These skills and a genuine interest in people, their feelings and emotions, means the letters we send are written from the heart. If it’s a special birthday, such as 100th^,, we’ll get lots of cards for the staff to write.