Paragon Dagenham was visited by West Ham footballers, Alphonse Areola and Jean-Clair Todibo, to thank the company for supporting the club’s charity foundation
Print and business services firm, Paragon, recently got a special visit to its Dagenham facilities from two West Ham United football club players.
West Ham players, Alphonse Areola and Jean-Clair Todibo, visited Paragon to personally thank the company for its support of the West Ham United Foundation, the charitable arm of the football club which focuses on providing support to its local community.
Initiatives from The West Ham United Foundation include sport and health clubs, mentoring, education, and employment opportunities, with a focus on benefitting a predominantly working-class community during the cost-of-living crisis.
As a long-standing partner of the foundation, Paragon played a key role in 2025 supporting activity across its programmes and producing branding and printed materials for its initiatives. Paragon also served as the headline sponsor for the West Ham Foundation’s 2025 gala dinner and awards show.
During the visit, Areola and Todibo toured Paragon’s site, saw the 2026 Foundation Calendar in production, and surprised members of Paragon’s team with gifts. They were also on hand to meet Paragon team members and sign memorabilia.
A video of the visit was posted by West Ham Foundation on LinkedIn, showcasing the players’ tour and some of their interactions with the Paragon team.
In the video, goalkeeper Areola says: “We are here to thank them all for what they are doing for the foundation, for the club, and we’ve been lucky to meet a few of the staff working on the foundation items and, yeah, been lucky to have the calendar as well.”
Todibo then adds: “I took the next calendar, literally six [of them]. It’s a good one, it’s quite pretty. I took four for my family.”
Gemma Mitchell, managing director of Paragon Dagenham, goes onto explain the additional gifts that the players presented to Paragon team members in the video.
Mitchell says: “As well as having the players here today, there’s been recognition for certain individuals that have really engaged with the Foundation and put a lot of time and effort into it: myself, Jack our house manager who’s our Paragon football team captain, Bill and Sue who work in our site support function, and Stewart who handles all of the print requirements for the Foundation.”
In a message accompanying the post, the West Ham Foundation adds: “We’re proud to work alongside Paragon, whose commitment continues to help us create positive impact across our community.”
