The COVID-19 EXtra Mile Award
Winner of The COVID-19 Extra Mile Award
Imageco
With the coronavirus affecting its normal business, Leeds-based Imageco decided to put its production and design know-how to use to help with the shortage of PPE in the health service. Using materials and fixings they had in stock they started to trial production of protective visors and after the first 160 were given to the neurology team at Leeds General Infirmary, the whole project snowballed. The company set up a ‘JustGiving’ page to support production and raised over £5000.00. Production hit 400 a day with the visors being distributed to care teams across the UK.
Highly Commended
SD Signs
SD Signs, based in Whitby, North Yorkshire put their skills to use to help the doctors and nurses at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesborough. They designed and produced boards and s/a stickers that could be used to help them to easily recognise each other when wearing PPE. The company didn’t stop there – they produced thousands of stickers to sell to raise money to buy intensive care hand and face creams for the care workers who had been affected by using PPE all day.
Daniel Casey, Sapphire Signs
The award goes to Daniel Casey, MD of Sapphire Signs. When the factory had to close during the first lockdown, he went in on his own to produce urgently needed covid signage, often working through the night. Understanding that a local hospice would have no funds coming in, he supplied them with social distancing signage to support their work.
Eyecatching Signs
During the quiet period created by the lockdown, Steven Smith of Eyecatching Signs in Richmond, North Yorkshire, decided to create some characters and use them to produce a banner for the town thanking NHS workers. After the characters were featured on social media, Steven was asked if he could use them to produce car stickers. So he did and sold them at £3.00 each with £2.50 from each sale going to the NHS. The whole thing snowballed, with more characters being created to represent key workers. At the time of entering the Eyecatching Signs had raised over £1900.00 for the NHS.