Our colleagues are making a difference by volunteering
- Tuesday, December 20, 2022
- Posted By The Growth Company
Volunteering your time and skills to aid a specific cause that’s really close to your heart can be incredibly rewarding.
The Growth Company’s Volunteering policy - Volunteer2day, encourages colleagues to make good use of their two volunteering days each year. They can take the two days leave in hours, half days and full days - and if their volunteering is done outside of the working day, they can claim this time back in lieu.
Many colleagues who have volunteered often tell us they come away feeling empowered and humbled by the experience.
A huge amount of people in the UK have benefitted from voluntary services at some point in their lives. We feel fortunate that our organisation has the opportunity of taking two fully paid volunteering days per year, enabling our colleagues to give something back to the causes that have touched their lives in some way and where they feel they can make a difference.
While most people volunteer for the organisations and causes they already have an interest in, there’s always a huge amount of knowledge that can be gained from exploring other opportunities. In return, you can pass on your expertise and skills which, in turn, will have a positive lasting impact on others’ lives.
Through training and hands-on experience, our colleagues have the opportunity to learn new skills and develop the ones they already have. Volunteering allows colleagues to meet new people and find their feet in their own time and at a pace that suits them, letting confidence build in a way that works for them.
There’s no right or wrong approach to volunteering, it’s about exploring the opportunities on offer and finding what’s right for you. What matters is that people enjoy it on their own terms - in a way which is most fulfilling to them.
Supporting Mexborough Foodbank
We’d love to share how a number of GC colleagues have recently supported Mexborough Foodbank, which is run by Food Aware Community Interest Company - to support participants who are struggling to afford food.
The Food Bank mentioned they really needed some help in the run up to the festive period, so serval GC colleagues volunteered to support creating food parcels, organising the influx of stock they had received and sorting the toy donations.
Colleagues who volunteered have told us it was hard work and there were many frozen fingers, but everyone really enjoyed it. One of the regular volunteers explained they’d never had so many volunteers help out, and the number of parcels that we’re made-up with our CG colleagues' support removed lots of pressure off them to meet the deadlines in getting parcels out to those in need before the festive season.
Operations Director, Melanie Howram has expressed a massive thank you to all the GC colleagues who volunteered to support the food bank – she said:
“Honestly - thank you all so very much, we genuinely could not have done this week without you all. We are humbled so much, you all did an amazing job, it was nothing but a pleasure to host you all.” – Melanie Howram, Operations Director for Food Aware CIC
Supporting the Tameside MeTime shoe box appeal
Tameside MeTime is a Mencap programme that supports people with a learning disability to access social and leisure opportunities in their community. They organised a Christmas shoe box event which took place at various venues across Manchester and Nottingham in mid- December to give to vulnerable people in the community during the Christmas period.
At the Manchester event, four colleagues from Aspire Recruitment – a recruitment agency which is part of The Growth Company, worked alongside people with a learning disability making and decorating Christmas themed shoeboxes, filled with items to benefit vulnerable members of the community. They produced 80 boxes in total – 40 for children and 40 for homeless people.
Frank Kinrade, Recruitment and Placement Consultant at Aspire recruitment said:
“Amazing day with some amazing people.”
Michelle Marshall, Senior Social worker, Manchester told us:
“You have done an amazing job with the volunteers, our looked after children will benefit from the parcels.”