Energy broker lays on free picnic for charity

Utility Aid, based on Carre Street, is an energy broker that mainly works with charities and not-for-profit organisations to purchase energy in the most cost-effective way.

Not only does Utility Aid organise energy contracts for their customers, it also works to recover overcharges throughout the contract so that charities only pay what they should.

Customer care and communications manager Sasha Oliver said they like to help smaller, local charities where they can make more of a difference and so they paid for all the food and laid on a picnic and tombola event in Boston Road Recreation Ground last Wednesday for families supported by the Rainbow Stars disability hub for young people with autism and other special needs.

“Utility Aid are aware that events have been unable to take place for around 18 months and as Rainbow Stars are a charity close to our hearts, we wanted to organise a special treat for them,” said Sasha.

“We provided the food and organised everything, as we had wanted to do something with Rainbow Stars as a local charity for some time but had been unable due to the pandemic

“It went really well. Everyone had lots to eat and we had perfect sunny weather.”

Chairman and co-founder of Rainbow Stars, Jane Peck, was grateful to Utility Aid and said it was wonderful to see so many people out together after so long being unable to hold public events: “It is so nice people are still supporting us. In lockdown we took a big hit on our pocket and still rely on volunteers,” said Jane.

“Utility Aid contacted me and said they wanted to do a picnic. One of their staff, Jade, is linked to a family we support. I put the offer up on Facebook and 50 families replied, which was great.”

The charity has managed to take families to Wolds Wildlife Park and the Parrot Zoo, but Jane said it was nice for everyone to meet up, including the wheelchair users who were able to join in for the first time since lockdown.