The Wishing Tree in Birmingham

The Bruntwood Wishing Tree has officially launched in Birmingham for another year, and it’s time to give back to our local communities.

Our customers and colleagues, along with local businesses, are encouraged to get involved by donating gifts from wish lists provided by our charity partners. In previous years, the campaign has delivered over 3000 presents to young and vulnerable people in our city regions.

In Birmingham, we’ve teamed up with Grand Union - a gallery and artists’ studio in Digbeth which works to provide affordable studios and bring art to the people. Through the ‘Artists-in-Residence’ programme, they help to support our aim to nurture talent in the art community and provide opportunities for growth. By homing artists in a business community, this encourages experimentation and the cross-fertilisation of ideas. 

Their ‘Growing Project’ will be our focus for 2021. The project does some fantastic work to create green spaces in underused urban locations, all of which are tended and nurtured by people affected by homelessness. Their video below shows this fantastic project in action!

“Our partnership with Bruntwood has been invaluable to us here at Grand Union. Bruntwood have been so supportive, particularly on The Growing Project,” said Adwoah Owusu-Barnieh, Project Coordinator at the Growing Project. “Last year, The Wishing Tree was instrumental in us expanding The Growing Project to more sites, which allowed us to facilitate more gardening activity sessions and reach more people. Every bit of support Bruntwood gives goes a very long way - whether that’s helping us with resources, or very kindly donating time."

When you have a spare few minutes, why not get involved - it’s really easy… 1) grab a tag from the tree in your building; 2) let your host/receptionist know which tag you’ve taken (they’ll be able to tell you how to return your gift); 3) buy the present, wrap it and return it no later than midday on Monday 13th December.

Should your building not have a Wishing Tree, or if you don’t work in one of our buildings at all but you’d still like to get involved, you can email socialimpact@bruntwood.co.uk and we’ll email a tag to you and provide details of how to return your gift.

(Please note that it may take a little longer for trees to go up in some of our spaces, but fear not - if you don’t see a tree, just ask at reception and we can give you a tag to take away).

Let’s give someone the Christmas they deserve...