Nechells based Smurfit Kappa have donated £30,700 to Nechells youth and community charity free@last through their Foundation, to help enhance the wellbeing of youth and their families in the community. 

Smurfit Kappa is a FTSE 100 company and one of the leading providers of paper-based packaging in the world, with operations in 23 European countries and 13 countries in the Americas. Almost all of the raw materials are sourced from their own paper mills, so consistency is always a key attribute of their products. Because those products are 100% renewable and produced sustainably, they help their customers reduce their environmental footprint. 

Smurfit Kappa are based on Mount Street, Nechells (B7 5RE) and have been part of the Birmingham community for over 160 years. 

The funds donated by the Smurfit Kappa Foundation will be used for 3 main activities at free@last; mountain biking, climbing and IT equipment. 

free@last have been building a sustainable mountain biking programme to engage young people in the outdoors and give them the necessary qualifications. The aim is to support future young people that wish to learn how to mountain bike and create a sustainable pathway; Smurfit Kappa’s funds will support with purchasing mountain bikes, helmets, maintenance costs, waterproofs and rucksacks. 

In addition, Smurfit Kappa’s funds will support the purchase and installation of additional auto-belay systems in free@last’s onsite climbing wall. This will help to create fitter and healthier individuals and allow free@last to provide indoor rock climbing to more of the community at one time.  

Finally, in an effort to work towards the eradication of digital poverty in Nechells, funds provided by Smurfit Kappa will provide computer courses and IT equipment for the local community.  

Adam Irvine, income generation department lead at free@last, said; 

Having the opportunity to partner with a company of the scale of Smurfit Kappa is a massive vote of confidence for the work that free@last do. We are delighted to have received such a game-changing grant from the Smurfit Kappa Foundation to provide new experiences and new opportunities to the people of Nechells. We can’t thank Smurfit Kappa, and the Smurfit Kappa Foundation, enough for their generosity. 

To find out more about free@last please visit; www.freeatlast.co.uk or email info@freeatlast.st  

To find out more about Smurfit Kappa, please visit; www.smurfitkappa.com