Thorn believes community involvement is a component of good business practice. Consequently, Thorn is committed to developing and maintaining long term strategic partnerships with community organisations, networks, and resources to create mutual benefit.
As part of Thorn’s commitment, staff are encouraged to participate in community activities along with Thorn providing direct financial support, including matching staff donations dollar for dollar for approved activities. Two of the major initiatives supported by Thorn are the Children’s Tumour Foundation of Australia and Project New Dawn.
Children’s Tumour Foundation of Australia (CTF)
The Children’s Tumour Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing information, support services and finding effective treatments for people living with neurofibromatosis (NF), a term for three distinct disorders: NF1, NF2, and schwannomatosis.
NF affects one in every 3,000 people, more than cystic fibrosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and Huntington’s disease combined.
CTF is dedicated to:
• Supporting children and adults diagnosed with neurofibromatosis , their families and carers with information, resources and practical support across their NF journey; and
• Funding world-leading research into effective treatments for NF and ultimately finding a cure
CTF is committed to ensuring those suffering with NF receive adequate, multidisciplinary care throughout their lives.
CTF has strong links internationally to NF organisations and researchers in the USA, Great Britain, Ireland, Canada and Europe. We also work closely and provide funding to world-class local researchers and clinicians at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Royal North Shore Hospital.
“It has been a challenging year for charities and fundraising - together with the support of Thorn Group, its staff and supplier network, I am so proud to report that CTF have made a great deal of progress in our efforts to support children and adults living with NF, in particular we have achieved our major goal of establishing a National Supportive Care Service to provide practical support, information and guidance to families living with NF. Quite simply, without the support of Thorn Group and the ongoing commitment of your staff and suppliers, we would not have achieved what we have over the last year. Your support of CTF continues to be critical to our vision of conquering NF. You have helped us achieve so much to date, and we are so very grateful for everything you do, thank you.”
Lisa Cheng, CEO, Children’s Tumour Foundation
Project New Dawn
Radio Rentals is also proud to be a founding partner in Project New Dawn which was created as an enterprise that could offer both jobs and accommodation to the homeless.
The core partners are ACSO in Melbourne, The Salvation Army in Brisbane and Perth, Mission Australia in Sydney (accommodation management and personal coaching), Radio Rentals (white goods and furniture), BP and Bunnings (rental guarantee, training and employment opportunities). New Partnerships were established with Indigenous Employment Focus in July 2015, AFL SportsReady and Aboriginal housing Victoria.
Participants selected for the project receive 12-18 months of employment and housing. With a stable source of income, participants pay their own rent and utilities which gives them a suitable rental history acceptable to other landlords when they graduate from the program.
The first house went live in 2008 in Melbourne and there are now six houses across Australia – two in Melbourne and one each in Newcastle, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. Since 2008, 26 people have been recruited nationally and roughly half of those selected have stayed on or graduated from the program.
The project aims to have 30-40 properties Australia wide, giving 60-80 homeless men and women the opportunity to move from the street and into regular employment.
Natural Disaster
When disaster strikes across Australia, such as the Victorian Bushfires and Queensland Floods or there is a worthwhile cause needing assistance, then there is a good chance that someone from Thorn will be there to assist our customers and the community in general. Over the years, assistance has been provided in various forms, including the loan of bedding and refrigerators for relief centres, substantial goodwill credits on customer accounts and the donation of products for fundraising.
Some of these initiatives include:
- Blue Mountains bushfires, household goods donations, special considerations for any customers affected by the devastation
- Queensland floods, give-away of 100 re-rent TVs and customer account credits
- Victoria bushfires, provision of beds etc for emergency shelters
- Victoria floods, provided equipment to support local police operations
Environment
As an importer of product under the Thorn brand, the Company is heavily focused on integrating environmental considerations into our purchasing and supply strategies. Thorn is also a member of the Australia New Zealand Recycling Platform (ANZRP), which has responsibility for recycling end of life televisions.
Health And Safety
Thorn recognises its responsibility to provide a safe environment for our people, our customers and others who come into contact with our business. Our Health and Safety program is regularly reviewed and our Regional Safety Teams provide two way feedback on managing potential hazards and best practices.
