Caring is something that’s always been a part of our DNA, which is why we’re dedicated to supporting several initiatives throughout the year that help to support those who need it most when times get tough. And with the approach of the holiday season around the corner, the O'Brien Giving Back Committee, with representatives from all O'Brien divisions, wanted to support local families in need.

That’s why we recently teamed up with the Salvos as part of their “Host a Food or Gift Drive” initiative.

Throughout November, we held a Food and Gift Drive (on behalf of the Salvation Army) to collect food and gifts to help support the families that will be having a hard time as we head into the end of the year.

As part of our drive, we set up three “Christmas Hubs” at central O'Brien^® branches and locations in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane to allow staff to donate non-perishable food and gifts.

The Salvos in each city then ensured that all these donated items got to local families to help make their Christmas period a little easier for themselves and their children.

A genuine team effort from the O'Brien^® family

Using three central collection hubs enabled each city’s staff and branches to participate in the drive, bringing donations to add to the hub over the month.  Overall, the drive was a great success.

Sally Sylvester, Call Centre Manager at our Padstow HQ, summed up why we choose to do things like this at O'Brien^®.

“At this time of the year, we can all get a bit caught up in our own worlds, trying to tick all the boxes as the year draws to a close.

“Having the vision and goal to collect food items and gifts for the Salvos has enabled my team and I to have a greater purpose at this time of the year. We all worked together to collect as many items as we could and gathered these items in our collective workspace. Seeing these items grow each week was fantastic to watch,” says Sally.

Tess Somerton, O'Brien Account Manager based in Melbourne, assisted with the Melbourne drive effort, offering up her time to collect donations from around the O'Brien branches across Melbourne for delivery to the Salvos.

She echoed Sally’s sentiments, telling us that “being part of the O'Brien/Salvos gift drive was a great opportunity for our teams and branches to come together with one goal to make a positive difference and bring a little Christmas joy to local families who may be struggling.”

Sally added, “it was great to pass these items onto the Salvos and see the smiles on their faces knowing that what our O'Brien teams had donated would make such a difference.”

Working together to give back

A huge thanks to all the teams across O'Brien^®, from Glazing, AutoGlass, Commercial and Central Office, that supported our Salvos drive and helped us to give back to those in need. We look forward to getting more opportunities to help the people and communities around us in 2023.

From all of us here at O'Brien^®, we wish you a safe and restful holiday season. See you all in 2023!

Want to lend a hand to the Salvos?  Visit the Salvation Army website here.

The post Giving Back For Christmas 2022: Supporting The Salvos appeared first on O'Brien.

In Australia, 431 people took part in the challenge and contributed a whopping 10,468km to the total 167,090km travelled globally. That equates to more than 4 times circumnavigating the globe.

In addition to the physical part of the challenge, the business aims to raise money for our global charity partner Afrika Tikkun, a leading non-profit company in the fields of education, skills development and socio-economic upliftment in South Africa.

This year we successfully raised over 2.3M Euros for Afrika Tikkun with O'Brien Australia proudly contributing $90,000 to the effort!

In Australia, our outstanding participants were George Psarras, branch manager at the Traralgon branch who rode over 460kms and Emma Webb-Wagg who works in our Wagga Wagga branch who travelled 370km.

George, who is based in regional Victoria said being in lockdown and not being able to go anywhere gave him some extra time throughout the day to get on the exercise bike.

He would do 30-45 minute stints at a time and coordinate it with binging his favourite show on Netflix or watching AFL, NRL or Premier Football.

“Initially I said I would do 5km a day. But when time goes that quick you don’t realise you have done 50km just watching TV.”

Although George admits it’s taken him a week to recover, he said the challenge has got him in the zone.

“I’m not as fit as I should be and my wife has been exercising a lot recently, so I do need to step up and lose some kilos.”

George’s competitive spirit is what got him across the line as Australian who travelled the greatest distance.

“When it comes to sport things I can be really competitive. If there is a challenge there I will try and better that.”

Emma, who was in the same team as George, was the second-highest individual clocking 370km, also on an exercise bike.

This was her first time taking part and she said her motivation was to raise money for a worthy cause as well as get out of the house and get active after a long period of lockdown

She also credits her team for the added motivation to smash her targets.

“I would like to give a massive shout out to the Auto Champs Team – George Psarras, Phil Cole, Fawad Saleem, Anthony Lindsay and the ring leader Marcus Wood.

Their enthusiasm, dedication and encouragement was amazing and having such a supportive team was a huge boost for the motivation. If it wasn’t for the teamwork and 11 pm messages in the group chat, I wouldn’t have pushed myself as much. My success is theirs as well – ONE TEAM ONE DREAM.”

Great effort all!

The post Smashing Targets As Part Of The Spirit Of Belron Challenge 2021 appeared first on O'Brien.

Starting next week, and running over five days, O'Brien^® will be taking part in a global challenge that aims to circumnavigate the globe as many times as possible and raise awareness and funds for Afrika Tikkun – a charity that helps to break the cycle of poverty in South Africa.

The ‘Spirit of Belron Round the World Challenge’ is the biggest annual charity event hosted by our parent group Belron^® , and brings together employees, friends, family and business partners to get active and give back at the same time. What is extra special in 2021, is that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the event at which participants can walk, run, cycle or swim to raise much-needed funds for our chosen charity partner Afrika Tikkun.

Since the beginning of the challenge, Belron Group has raised over 12.5 million euros for Afrika Tikkun. Afrika Tikkun was founded in 1994 after the first elections in South Africa where all citizens were able to take part and when Nelson Mandela become prime minister.

As a leading non-profit company in the fields of education, skills development and socio-economic upliftment, Afrika Tikkun’s commitment remains unwavering: to impact South Africa for the long term, one inspired young life at a time. Afrika Tikkun’s ‘360° Cradle to Career’ program approach is designed to meet the demands of health, education and future wellbeing of South Africa’s impoverished youth.

In the past, the Spirit of Belron Challenge has been a number of events hosted in one place for people to come together. But in 2020, due to travel restrictions, a new type of all-inclusive event was imagined that allowed anyone, no matter their location, to take part.

Last year over 7,300 people from around the world got into the ‘Spirit of Belron’ and together we travelled an incredible 166,729km. That equates to just over four times around the world! We also raised more than 1.7 million euros.

Jacques Marais, Enterprise Architect at O'Brien^®, led the charge in 2020 and travelled over 200km. ‘I set out to take part in what I believed was going to be a fun initiative. On the second day, I opened the leaderboard and noticed the sheer amount of km’s some people in Europe had put in. It got me immensely motivated and I went from just taking part to actually trying to challenge myself. If anything, I ended up competing with myself and it was an incredibly fun and rewarding week, enhanced by knowing that we were all giving back and supporting a really great cause’.

Alongside Jacques, we had 260 employees, 5 business partners/suppliers, and 29 family and friends take part – with a huge $75,000 donated. This year we want to do even better, it’s a challenge! We’ve set ourselves a target to increase participation by 20% to reflect the 20 successful years this event has been running.

But how does that work when some of us are in lockdown here in Australia? Well, that’s the beauty of it being a virtual event and having beautiful weather here to get active outdoors.

The event kicks off on 22 September and finishes on 26 September. Please support anyone you know taking part (look out for their pictures on our socials) or if you would like to get involved, or make a donation we’d love your support.

Find out more about the Spirit of Belron Challenge 2021.

The post Getting Into The Spirit Of Belron appeared first on O'Brien.

Camp Quality raises much-needed funds to ensure that kids facing cancer across the country, can have the chance to just be kids again. They do this by helping create positive memories and experiences for children up to 15 years who are dealing with their own cancer diagnosis, or the diagnosis of someone they love, like a brother, sister, mum, dad or carer.

Funds raised from the Camp In will help provide kids, their siblings and parents, with fun experiences, education, specialised cancer care, counselling and a supportive community; in hospitals, online, at school and away from it all on camps and at specialised retreats organised by the foundation.

Our team members and their families across the country used their imagination and creativity to set up ‘camp’ in the backyard, lounge room, dining room, living room – even inside a combi van! And with many employees working from home at the moment, it was also a great opportunity to bring people together (virtually) with a number of extra activities planned including trivia and a group screening of Forrest Gump.

A very generous $8,603 was fundraised by participants, with O'Brien^® also donating $100 for every employee who participated in the event – bringing the total to over $17,000 donated to Camp Quality!

A huge thank you to all those who got involved for a worthy cause – we look forward to the next one.

The post O’Brien® Camp-In for Camp Quality appeared first on O'Brien.

Foodbank provides 77 million meals a year (210,000 meals a day). Pre-COVID-19, Foodbank programs assisted more than 815,000 Australians each and every month however since the pandemic was declared there has been a 47% increase in demand for food relief.

“On behalf of the entire O'Brien Leadership team, I would like to say a BIG thank you to all that donated to their local Glazing branch to support such a fantastic cause! We have received so many donations across the country which I’m certain will make a massive difference to the lives of many!” said Nigel Woolley, Glazing Operations Director, O'Brien^®.

To find out more about Foodbank, and how they make a difference to people in need throughout local communities around Australia click here.

The post Making A Difference In May appeared first on O'Brien.

Across the business, we have four teams taking part. Each individual is aiming to complete 3,318 push-ups over 25 days. 3,318 represents the lives lost to suicide in Australia in 2019. It’s a lot. And by raising awareness and some much-needed funds for critical charities such as Lifeline, the O'Brien^® team is hoping to make a difference.

Beth Pope, team leader of the O'Brien^® Commercial team, has had first-hand experience with mental illness and is taking part to support charities she says do life-saving work in this area.

“We know that COVID has had a huge impact on people’s mental health and charities such as Lifeline and Headspace have been under significant pressure in 2020, so it’s good to show support for them in this way.”

Phil Holmes, team member of the O'Brien^® Commerical team, is a veteran Push for Better challenge participant, with 2021 marking his third year taking part.

“I have been fortunate in my life, and I am always looking at ways in which I can help people. Australia has one of the highest rates of suicide per capita in the world, especially young males. We must find a way to help prevent people from giving up and taking their own lives. Every dollar raised goes towards us achieving that. This is my 3rd challenge and I love participating and pushing myself through “good pain”.”

The challenge is broken down into daily tasks; 130 push-ups one day, 105 the next, 142 the next and so on, with 200 push-ups in a single day being the highest target. But for anyone thinking it’s a breeze, Beth assures us it’s a real physical challenge.

“I’m pretty fit and do something active most days but on day 3, even my arms are sore.”

If you would like to show your support for one of the O'Brien^® teams taking part in Push for Better this June, please click on the following link to view our progress and donate: https://www.thepushupchallenge.com.au/community/oooobrien

The post Supporting Push For Better appeared first on O'Brien.

Since 2003, Movember has been the leading charity in helping to change the face of men’s health. A big motivation for Graham Dorries, Branch Manager of O'Brien® Autoglass Toowoomba, in taking part is his four boys. 

“I have four young boys so men’s health is a topic very close to my heart as they grow up,” said Graham. 

Graham is a veteran mo grower and says the key is to “go big or go home”. 

“I always like to aim for a Merv Hughes-type mo.” 

So far, O'Brien has raised over $1,500 for the cause. If you would like to donate to the MO'Brien team this Movember, click here. 

The post Team MO’Brien Supports Movember appeared first on O'Brien.

Your Chance to Win a Family Holiday to Fiji valued at $5,000!

The O'Brien® Giving Back Program has been evolving over many years with significant contributions being made to charities at global, national and local level. As part of Belron® International our chosen global charity is Afrika Tikkun. Founded in 1994 with the goal to make a difference in the South African economy by developing and uplifting young people living in underprivileged communities. They believe that every young person deserves the opportunity to be the best that they can be! They take a holistic approach to the development of young people from early childhood up until adulthood. Their focus is on nutrition, health, education, personal development, skills development, and ultimately work placement.

Please help us support Afrika Tikkun by purchasing tickets to our O'Brien® Giving Back Raffle 2019. All you need to do is go to rafflelink.com.au/fijifundraiser2019 and purchase your tickets online. Tickets are $10 each or you can buy a bundle & get a discount. All profits will go to Afrika Tikkun.

Hurry! The competition ends on Wednesday 11th December 11:59pm AEDT. Prize will be drawn at noon on Thursday 12th December AEDT.

What’s included:

• 5 nights’ accommodation for 2 Adults & 2 Children at the 5 star Shangri La Fiji in a Yanuca Lagoon Grand Deluxe Room (1 King + 1 sofa with trundle bed)
• Return Airport Transfers via Private Car
• Buffet Breakfast Daily (for Adults & 2 Children, 11 years and under)
• Little Chief’s Kids Club for Children 4-12
• FJD 500 Food & Beverage Credit (Valid for 12 months, subject to availability)
• Virgin Australia Flight Voucher valued at $2000 (Valid for 12 months)

Terms and Conditions:

The prize is open to O'Brien employees, O'Brien Electrical & Plumbing Members, friends, family and acquaintances. Certain dates have a surcharge of FJD100 per night (or approximately AUD$66) which is not covered by the prize. These dates are: 1-30 April 2020, 1-30 July 2020, 20 September to 14 October 2020, 21 Dec 2020 to 5 January 2021. There are a few dates the resort is closed so you won’t be able to book 15-16 May 2020 and 30 Nov to 05 Dec 2020.

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