Here at Agiito, we offer our people one volunteering day per year away from the office to give back to the local community. After proudly donating over £32,000 in gifts, charity fundraising and time spent volunteering for causes across the UK in 2022, we’ve managed to rack up 397 hours in volunteering so far in 2023, which has helped to make a real difference to people’s lives by supporting local communities and projects.
It's a great way for our people to meet new people and develop some new skills while helping give back to the community and we continue to source some fantastic volunteering opportunities for our colleagues. Over 20% of our people have now taken advantage of a volunteering day which is fantastic to see.
We’ve put together some of the key highlights on the various volunteer days with Just for Dogs, National Trust, Padley Group and more for you to have a read over.
The National Trust
In association with the National Trust and Dunster Castle we rolled up our sleeves in August and got stuck spending a day with their gardening and ground teams. They had accumulated a very large pile of wood from old trees that had either naturally fallen or had to be felled for various reasons. This pile needed to be moved and it was a job they had needed to complete for a long time. With our help they have now reclaimed additional space for composting which will help their grounds and gardens, whilst at the same time, using the old wood we created a new space and natural habitat for small mammals, reptiles and bugs to live within their stunning grounds.
Just for Dogs
We’ve organised four volunteer days at the Just For Dogs rescue centre this year, with more to come this month! It’s an amazing achievement to have had so many people use their volunteer day at the rescue centre, both the Just for Dogs team and all the rescue dogs love to see us when we visit. We’ve even helped rehome fabulous Monty to our colleague Lisa Hyman, which is a fantastic success story in itself.
The Padley Group
In August, a group of colleagues volunteered at The Padley Group which are a key charity within the Derby community, supporting people who are at risk of becoming homeless or who are already in that unthinkable situation. They offer a lifeline of support, food, housing via their trusted network of volunteers, day centre and community events.
It was a very rewarding day for our colleagues being able to help make life a little easier for the dedicated volunteers at the warehouse where our people sorted food, clothing and, got to jet wash things!
Elvaston Castle
This month, we recently had 10 of our fabulous colleagues put on their wellies and roll up their sleeves to support the park rangers at Elvaston Castle Country Park, by helping to refresh the children’s play area (near the main entrance) with new bark.
Our Director of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability, Kirsty Given had the following to say on the achievement: “Volunteering is such a rewarding activity for our people, allowing us the opportunity to connect and give back to the community around us. Being a responsible business has many facets but being engaged with the charities and groups who are making a difference is an uplifting and humbling experience and something that is vital we support. Whether that is through corporate giving, volunteer time donated, or localised support and engagement to improve the environmental, social and economic landscape that Agiito and our people are part of. Its can also be a lot of fun and something we passionately promote throughout the business.”
With there still being time left in the year to do volunteering, we still have many days available for our colleagues to take advantage of and we’re sure that they will be snapped up to help the local community.