A CHALLENGE is being thrown down to firms and organisations in York to help transform a community centre in just three days.

Employees and their bosses can show how they care for their local area in this year’s Big Community Challenge.

York Cares, the employer volunteer charity, is looking for 15 companies to provide teams of up to ten people to help them with their latest project, at Foxwood Community Centre, over three days in October.

The volunteers will clear and replant flower beds, make a barbecue area, construct raised beds, create seating areas and cut back weeds and undergrowth as they create a new garden area and smarten up the centre’s overgrown sports field.

Sue Galloway, secretary of Foxwood Residents’ Association, said: “Foxwood Community Centre is the hub of community activity in an area of York which faces its challenges. This project will be a boost to residents in the area and encourage them to be more involved in the revival of the fortunes of the community centre and the community.”

Helen Jackson, from York Cares, said: “This is a great opportunity for people to get together and make a difference. Volunteers are often surprised by what is achieved in such a short time. All they need to give is three hours of their time and their enthusiasm to create a facility which will benefit the whole community.”

The Big Community Challenge is the latest in a series of makeover projects which has seen an adventure playground revamped with facilities for parents and young children in the Bell Farm area and the transformation of the old grounds of Haxby Road Primary School into an outdoor classroom and community gardens.

For more information, email info@yorkcares.co.uk