Our employee volunteering is going from strength to strength

In the past nine months each of Society’s colleagues has given at least two days each to volunteer at a local charity or organisation of their choice.  Hightlights include:

• The whole team spent a day with the Peter Bedford Housing Association as part of BITC’s Given & Gain Day. We held a series of workshops providing CV advice and mock interview practice, all aimed at helping vulnerable and socially excluded adults gain confidence and skills to get back into the workplace. It was a chance for us to put our skills in recruitment to use in a different setting, to work on some teambuilding of our own, and to meet some thorough nice new people.  
• Megan spent a rainy day at Gillespie Park in Holloway with the staff and volunteers of the Islington Ecology Centre, preparing the reserve for its spring visitors – both human and animal. Despite the cold and rain, a tree was successfully felled and a new fence was built, all aided by lots of tea and biscuits to keep warm.
• Paul offered a hand at Working Chance, a charity that helps female ex-offenders back into employment. He lent advice to their recruiters on how to grow their retail client base, hopefully providing more future opportunities for the women who need the charity’s support.
• Sara gave her time to Ready for Work, as she has done for the past two years. This is a national programme which supports some of society’s most disadvantaged people to enter employment through two weeks of work experience, giving them a flavour of work and a hunger and confidence to start interviewing again. Sara arranged Society’s work placement this year and enjoyed seeing someone transform and come out of their shell over the two weeks they spent with us.
• Simon lent his time doing mock interviews for students at St. Paul’s Way Trust School in Tower Hamlets as part of the ‘Head to Head’ programme, run by Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership. He has also been appointed to the Board of Governors of Hitchin Girls’ School in North Hertfordshire, and will be using some of his volunteering time going forward in order to accommodate the new meetings and commitments that throws up.
• Conor helped out in the soup kitchen at the American International Church, a local operation to Society’s offices and therefore an opportunity to give something back to the neighbourhood we work in. The highlight of the day was seeing a team of strangers from a range of backgrounds come together as volunteers to provide a good service for a group of people in need.
• Alina wanted to volunteer somewhere with links to hospitality, so she chose the Waterloo Food Bank. She had a productive and insightful day helping the team prepare food packages and sharing these with people who are in need of the food bank.
• Tanya chaperoned a South East London primary school field trip to the Horniman Museum. Her daughter is a Reception student in the school, so this was a great opportunity to spend a day ‘in learning’ with her, whilst providing the school much needed adult volunteers. The highlight of the day was guiding a student group through the aquarium tour - seeing them link classroom learning to the real world and talking about science and marine life in an interactive way.  
• Christiane spent a day with Age UK Waltham Forest at a weekly coffee morning for elderly and disabled people in the area. With her background in hospitality, she made light work of serving lunch and tea and having a chat with everyone from the local community. She especially enjoyed being the trolley dolly during the raffle draw, whizzing around the prizes as they were won.
• Gerry offered to help the volunteers at a small urban farm in her borough - Freightliners Farm, Islington. It was a good day to help out as the Islington in Bloom judges were visiting, so lots of time was spent tidying up and readying the plants. She particularly enjoyed feeding the chickens at the end of the day.
• Ruth volunteered with Spear in Clapham Junction. Spear is a six week course for young people aged 16-24, to equip them with the skills they need to find employment. Ruth helped out at their Mock Interview session, which takes place towards the end of the course. She enjoyed hearing stories from the young people of how the program has encouraged and inspired them and was pleased to see their progress in action during the mock interviews