Why wrap up is more that a coat drive

I have long believed that within a square mile of every business you will find every challenge our society faces, from poverty and loneliness to poor mental health and a lack of opportunity. You don’t need to go looking for it, because you will likely pass someone facing at least one of these challenges every day. 

Wrap Up is a winter coat appeal that collects unwanted coats and redistributes them to local charities supporting people who struggle to keep warm, from homeless shelters and refugee centres to women’s refuges and families living in poverty. It started in 2011 with collections on the London Underground and now runs in towns and cities across the world. For the past 10 years, we at gunnercooke have run collection points for Wrap Up, asking fellow commuters for the coats they no longer wear so that they can keep someone else warm. 

This winter, our people will be collecting coats in five cities across two continents: 

• Manchester kicked things off on October 14, when House of Books & Friends, our not-for-profit bookshop on King Street, becomes a Wrap Up Manchester donation point until 25 November. It will be open from 9am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, and from 11am to 5pm on Sundays. 

• In London, our partners and gcTrust volunteers will be back at Moorgate Station on 3, 4 and 5 November, from 7am to 11am. 

• In Berlin, our team returns to Berlin Hauptbahnhof for a fourth year on 10, 11 and 12 November, from 7am to 9am. They are on a mission to beat last year after collecting almost 800 coats, more than four times the year before. 

• And for the first time, we are taking our support for Wrap Up across the Atlantic to our New York and Chicago offices across November (dates to be confirmed soon!). 

When we built gunnercooke, we gave ourselves a clear purpose: to deliver a positive impact for our clients, a better life for our people, and to leave a better world than we found. The first two are easy enough to measure, but it’s the third that keeps me honest, because it asks what we are doing with the influence we have. 

Businesses have the tools, the networks and the resources to help solve the problems on their own doorstep. For example, a business leader can decide to act tomorrow morning without waiting for anyone’s permission. 

I have been critical in the past of corporate volunteering that consists of painting the same wall three times a year and calling it impact. Wrap Up is different. It puts coats straight into the hands of charities helping people in crisis, and it is direct, local and measurable. In London alone, last year’s 15th campaign brought together 1,230 volunteers to collect 14,171 warm coats for more than 80 charities, supporting people sleeping rough, refugees, women in sheltered accommodation and children from low-income families. 

So, to everyone at gunnercooke who has been part of Wrap Up, or who will be for the first time this year, thank you. If you are a client or a friend of the firm, please come and say hello, and bring a coat with you. And if you lead a business, ask yourself what your square mile needs this winter and what you are going to do about it, because we all have a part to play. 

A coat might feel like a small thing to give, but to someone who doesn’t have one, it is everything. For a full list of collection points please visit: https://wrapupuk.org/.