Vattenfall Heat UK Raises £3.5k for charity with virtual step challenge

Team members who were able to join pledged how many steps they thought they could complete to meet the weekly totals, through a variety of methods including cycling, dog walking, HIIT workouts and active time with family. An abundance of steps pledged halfway through the challenge meant that the target distance could be increased to support a virtual stop off at the Berlin office as well.

Favourite charities were nominated by the team as potential recipients of a £1 per 1000 steps taken, with the final charity to be decided upon by the winners at the end of the challenge.

The winner of the step challenge was Victor Leon with a total of 395,278 steps. Victor was joined by Abigail Chatfield in second place with 310,658 steps and Jim Christian in third with 274,588 steps.

Furthermore, the team pledged more than enough steps to cover the distance, which meant that they had the steps to go further - from Stockholm, the team then moved on to Oslo, caught the ferry to Aberdeen and finished at the Heat UK offices in Edinburgh! The grand total of steps taken was 3,684,553.

Under Tree Schools, was selected by the winners to be the recipient of the December Step Challenge donation of £3,500 (€3,900).

Until 2005 girls were not given the opportunity to go to school in what became South Sudan, the newest country in the world. Under Tree Schools gives financial support to a school for girls in South Sudan. Their aim is to give a lead to its Government for others to follow and help girls get the education they need to be able to take up careers.

The charity was nominated by Heat UK’s Head of Investment, Nicholas Allen:

"I have been involved in Under Tree Schools (UTS) for over 15 years. The leader and founder of UTS gave an inspirational talk at my local Church and given I have two daughters, the idea of setting up a school for girls resonated strongly.

I have helped the charity over the intervening years in a variety of ways, from regular giving to helping run a second-hand bike sale every year - I have cleaned a lot of second-hand bikes!"

More information about Under Tree Schools: https://www.undertreeschools.org/

Thanks to all the team at Heat UK for their participation in keeping winter spirits up, meeting and exceeding the target steps needed to virtually visit our Vattenfall colleagues, and Head of Strategic Development Stuart Allison for devising and running the challenge.