Empowered communities are full of residents taking the lead where they live. They’re brimming with people who have a passion for making it a better place for all.
We share this goal and work with residents and partners to create thriving communities. There’s no better example of this than young Rogan Morrill who is supporting the community with his Bee Happy campaign.
At just 11 years old, Rogan is an active member of the Gosport community and has been volunteering at Jacob’s Well’s The Store Cupboard. We were proud to provide funding to the charity last year, supporting them with their food initiative.
Seeing what a difference community action can make, Rogan decided to take it a step further, launching his very own Bee Happy campaign to lift spirits and provide families with activities to do at home. To get started he raised money through a scooter ride with an end goal of raising enough to buy supplies for activity packs and donate them to families in-need.
Rogan’s commitment to his community has inspired many people – including our Community Investment team. As part of their Good Spud Club they donated 100 packets of sunflower seeds to go in Rogan’s packs and inspire the community to get growing. The packs include colouring pens, books, small toys, sunflower seeds and a pot to grow them in.
Rogan’s project has benefitted many people, with 80 packs putting a smile on people’s faces during lockdown. The packs are supporting the community’s wellbeing and keeping people busy at a challenging time. Rogan’s now busy preparing an Easter project, to support him visit his fundraising page here.
The project has had a positive effect on Rogan, too, increasing his confidence and connecting him to new people. Alongside the Bee Happy boxes he has also setup a pen pal service, to get young people in the community chatting to one another.
“I gave out 80 all together and am very, very busy writing back to all the children. I even have my very own post box. I will use the Bee Happy boxes to put more lovely things inside kids like. We have had a hard time us kids, so I just want to make someone smile.” – Rogan Morrill
Gosport is one of our areas of investment and will benefit from many different projects in the next five years, steered by the community.
