Engineers donate old school phone system to charity

Sunday 17 January 2021

A phone system that for years dealt with calls at the old Les Quennevais School has been given a new lease of life after being donated to a local charity.

JT engineers Peter Vasse and Vinnie Harkin, who often take their lunch breaks at social enterprise café Beresford Street Kitchen, were asked to look at the ageing phone system.

Knowing there was one at the old Les Quennevais School that was no longer needed, they asked the school whether it could be given to the charity to cover its needs instead.

BSK had been needing to upgrade its phone system to one that was able to handle multiple calls but had been putting it off due to cost until two regular customers made a welcome suggestion.

Pictured: The phone system came from the old Les Quennevais School.

“Peter knew the old system backwards," Alexander Richardson, Business and Facilities Manager of Les Quennevais School, said. "He had helped install it and worked with us at the school to keep it working properly.

"We like to maintain continuity in our relationships with outside companies and when Peter and Vinnie moved with us to the new school and started installing the new system, Peter had the lightbulb moment.

"We are really pleased we were able to help out and we had no idea that it could be put to such good use. The old phone system was perfect for what the charity needed, and we were happy to support his great idea to donate it to Beresford Street Kitchen and further strengthens the school’s links with JT who we were able to collaborate with to help this charity.”

Gabby Ellmers, Managing Director of Beresford Street Kitchen, added: “We have always enjoyed having Peter and Vinnie as customers and it was so typical of them to come up with a way of helping us out. As we’ve grown over the last three years, our phone system simply couldn’t cope with what we needed it to do.

"It meant sometimes missing calls, crew members not being able to get through and a lot of running around the building to get messages to areas with no phone lines.  We are extremely grateful for the generous donation from Les Quennevais School and to Peter and Vinnie for the many hours they put in at night installing the system.

"Now with the help of the school and JT, we are always able to answer those important calls from our crew, partners and customers and it will help support our future growth to enable us to provide training and employment for more people with learning disabilities and autism.”

Early last year, JT set up a Sustainability Team to pool ideas from across the company to help achieve their aim of becoming a carbon neutral business and a contributor to a carbon neutral island by 2030.

"We welcome and encourage all ideas and opportunities to recycle, reuse and reduce and when Peter and Vinnie suggested this, it really was a no brainer," Tom Noel, JT’s Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, said. 

"We’re already making great strides in reducing waste, and this idea is at the heart of what we as a company are trying to do to minimise our impact on the planet. We’re really proud that our people feel empowered to help others and can be part of change for the better. Peter and Vinnie fitted the system in their own time, wanting to get the charity’s new system running as soon as possible. Not only is this a great example of a circular economy, it’s also a really great example of how we can all work together to achieve something good within our local community.”