Charity Partnerships

Giving back: It's in our DNA

Long before formal charity partnerships, giving back to the community simply reflected our founder Chris's own life.

Chris himself spent 14 years as Secretary and Chairman of Wey Valley Swimming Club, where all four of his children swam. He sponsored school events for many years. He coached rugby clubs for which his children played.

So naturally, Meaco became involved too.

As Meaco grew, so too did our charitable support, charitable donations and community volunteer days – and we believe there's still much more the company can do.

David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation: A history of our partnership

What started as a connection at the school gates, with a parent who worked for the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, has become a long-standing partnership that supports orphaned elephants at the DSWF-supported elephant orphanage in Zambia. As a Surrey-based charity, DSWF was a natural partner for Meaco, allowing us to support an organisation making a global impact while remaining close to our local community.

DSWF works to protect endangered wildlife and preserve habitats across Africa and Asia through conservation, anti-poaching initiatives, community engagement and education. One of the orphaned elephants they rescued, called Zambezi, was the inspiration for the name of our DD8L Zambezi dehumidifier.

Through the sale of each one, Meaco donates £2 directly to the elephant orphanage, helping provide specialist care, nutrition and rehabilitation for orphaned elephants as they make the long journey back to life in the wild. Today, the programme supports 26 orphaned elephants while also benefiting tens of thousands of local people through education and sustainable livelihood initiatives.

We're incredibly proud of what this partnership has achieved. As Chris Michael explains:

We are delighted that the Zambezi dehumidifier has proven to be so popular with customers across the world. We take a great deal of pride and satisfaction knowing that every contribution to the DSWF goes directly into elephant conservation to help orphaned elephants get a chance at a better life.

Together, we've raised over £120,000 for elephant conservation.

Every DD8L Zambezi dehumidifier purchased helps support this work, and by choosing the Zambezi, our customers become part of the story too.

Find out more about this worthy charity and our £100,000 milestone in donations in our blog.

Read our blog

If you’re interested in a charity partnership, get in touch! We’d love to hear from you.

Our volunteer days

We believe making a difference starts with showing up. Our volunteer days give our team the opportunity to support charities and local initiatives with their time and skills. Here’s a little about our volunteer days so far.

Cats Protection, Haslemere

A team from the Meaco office spent a day cleaning, sorting and providing support at Cats Protections’ Surrey Cat Centre in 2025. Beth, one of our volunteers, had such a great day it led to her adopting one of the cats!

She says: “It was really rewarding to see how much care and dedication goes into looking after the cats behind the scenes. It also gave me a real appreciation for the work Cats Protection does to give every cat the best chance of finding a loving home.”

Care Ashore, Cranleigh

So far we’ve had six volunteer days at Care Ashore, a sanctuary for those who served at sea and their dependents.

Activities have included apple-picking and baking for the residents; volunteering at the community cafe; and gardening to maintain outdoor spaces such as the Japanese Garden and the Memorial Woodland, an important community space.

Our colleague, Anna, says: “One of the highlights was working on a beautiful sensory and walking garden, which provides residents with a peaceful area to enjoy and relax in.”

Each day has been rewarding for all those involved and greatly appreciated by the staff and residents at Care Ashore. We look forward to the next!

Royal Surrey Hospital, Cancer Wing, Guildford

In 2025 our Meaco elves wanted to lift the spirits of those spending the festive season in hospital receiving cancer treatment, so they visited the cancer wing at Royal Surrey Hospital. The whole office got involved by donating stocking fillers and more, and a team of Meaco volunteers packed presents into various festive gift bags, which they then delivered to patients with handwritten cards.

Volunteer, Hannah, says: “It’s lovely to be in a position to give something back to our local community, and we’re incredibly grateful to everyone at Meaco for being so generous and helping us spread a little Christmas joy. I hope to do it again this year!”

Delivering letters to vulnerable people across Huddersfield

To share the festive cheer with lonely and vulnerable people, a number of our colleagues wrote letters to elderly care home residents across Huddersfield. This wonderful initiative was suggested to us by our dedicated Customer Services Manager, Josh, who had previously worked with the charity.

All the letters were collated and delivered to the recipients just before Christmas in 2025, which put a smile on many faces and helped lift residents’ mood.

Christmas Santa Appeal, Surrey

Three Meaco volunteers – Ellie, Nick and Kris – delivered donations in Santa’s ‘sleigh’ to St Joseph’s Primary School, Felbury Care Home, Northmead Junior School and Care Ashore. We also donated dehumidifiers to Make-A-Wish UK, a Brownies Club in Aldershot, St Cuthbert Mayne Primary School and Helen & Douglas House Hospice. The Brownies even surprised us with a lovely video of them unboxing their donation!

Ellie commented: “The best part of the day was seeing everyone's reactions and hearing the stories behind why the donations would make such a difference. It really put into perspective how much impact a simple act of kindness can have. Care Ashore even wrote us a heartfelt letter afterwards and sent us homemade cider made from the apples grown at the care home. Those small gestures meant so much to us and perfectly summed up the spirit of the initiative."

Knowing we'd played a small part in making Christmas a little brighter for so many people was incredibly rewarding. Sharing that experience with my colleagues (and friends) made it even more memorable. It was also amazing to see how many of our customers got involved by nominating deserving organisations, making the campaign feel like something we all made happen together.