Celebrating our volunteering heroes – The Big Help out!
This article will take approximately 2 minutes to read
Published 8 May 2023 in Raising Awareness
Today has been dubbed The Big Help Out, inviting the British public to volunteer as part of the suite of celebrations for the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III. During May, we’ll be celebrating our own colleagues who volunteer regularly and invite you to use your paid volunteer hours to do the same. Today we start with colleagues Conor O’Neil, Reece Leel & John Woodward!
Conor volunteers every week for a Food bank
Conor O’Neil from the Community Team spends one day a week handing out food in the centre of Birmingham with a food bank.
He says volunteering in this way “strengthens your values and gives you a new perspective on life.”
Watch his video below.
Volunteering is a source of pride and colleague bonding for Reece
Reece Leel, Diversity and Inclusion Partner, has been involved in a whole host of different volunteering activities, both as part of a group of colleagues and independently. Here he tells us why volunteering is so important to him...
“I believe volunteering is an extremely important, and often overlooked, part of society, and if volunteers did not exist it would definitely be noticed in many areas of our lives.
Many of us go through life not noticing the things volunteers have done, this can be as simple as walking along a clean street or passing a wall which has been freshly painted; often there is a team of volunteers with great pride keeping communities tidy and pristine."
“I first volunteered when I started working for Midcounties. At first, I tagged along with other colleagues, but now I am one of the main volunteering facilitators in my office. What I enjoy most is noticing the difference you have made.
I prefer volunteering in a group as it keeps the morale high and allows you to socialise and enjoy it much more. You also get a feel for people’s personal strengths, where they work at their best and what gives them passion and drive. I have become closer with many of my friends and colleagues through volunteering activities.
My preferred form of volunteering is outdoors, usually landscaping, gardening or tidying/litter picking. I feel a great sense of achievement driving past a community centre or a fly-tipping hotspot which remains clean and well-maintained, thanks to the work we have done as a team.
The main tip I would offer to others is to get stuck in! It’s extremely easy to sit back in your comfort zone and let others do the volunteering, which is fine because none of us is forced to do it, but if all of us sat back and didn’t bother, none of this great work would happen. Don’t be afraid just to do it!”
We climbed the Welsh Three Peaks to raise money for Guys Gift, our regional charity partner. To raise money we did a number of activities such as a sponsored cycle as a group and a charity car wash at the Warwick Support Office
Midcounties supports the Outward Bound Charity which provides experiences and support to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds; this image was with me, children from Walsall Academy and two of their teachers, after receiving our awards for 4 days of going Outward Bound through the Lake District!
We take part in regular litter picks to keep our communities tidy, in this image is myself and Julia Farrell who is one of our old community team colleagues; we took part in lots of litter picks around our local area of Bilston
Volunteering at Warwick Pride
Saying “yes” more led John to volunteer
John Woodward, Head of Operations for Utilities, decided to say “yes” more in his life. This led him to dip his toe into volunteering as part of the Society litter picks. Now he’s got the volunteering bug.
“Since those lovely litter picks, I have been helping raise money for some of our local charity partners and last year started to volunteer for St Paul’s School in Warwick, clearing overgrown sections of the playground and prepping the growing beds for the kids.
It’s great to know that our help might improve the kids' experience at school and the school can invest more money on education materials across the year.”
Since then, John has also been supporting the Chipping Norton Larder and has got his Utilities colleagues involved in stocking shelves to support the team there.
"There are so many opportunities within Midcounties to support your local community. My main advice is to say “yes” whenever you can. It’s so rewarding and I have met some amazing people that do amazing work.”
Feeling inspired? Every year colleagues have 22.5 paid hours to spend volunteering* (*this is pro-rata for part-time colleagues). This can be used doing a team volunteering day or some regular volunteering activities that are close to your heart.
For more information and to plan how to use your volunteering hours visit here.
Lookout for more fantastic colleagues next week who will be sharing their stories on volunteering.
*Worked out based on an average UK wage of £16.60 - Source