The Importance Of Volunteering Importance Volunteering
There was no horsing around for top bosses at Yorkshire Building Society when they spent a day volunteering at Hope Pastures equine sanctuary. Chief Executive Chris Pilling took his team of chief officers to help out at the Weetwood Lane charity which rescues, rehabilitates and re-homes horses, ponies and donkeys.
Catherine Wilson, Volunteer – Corporate Event Co-ordinator for Hope Pastures, said: “They worked extremely hard and completed an absolutely enormous section of fencing for us – we were really impressed with how they rolled up their sleeves and totally blitzed it – they even ran out of wood!”
“As a small charity we receive no income and rely on public support to keep doing what we do. Without the help from volunteers like the team from Yorkshire Building Society we would really struggle.”
Volunteering is a key part of the ethos at the UK’s second largest mutual with every colleague being allowed up to 31 hours each year to help out at a charity or good cause of their choice.
The Society was recently named Business of the Year at the Third Sector Business Charity Awards 2016 and also won the Employee Engagement Initiative of the Year category for its colleague volunteering programme.
Chris Pilling, Chief Executive at Yorkshire Building Society, said: “Erecting fencing certainly makes a difference to the kind of work we would usually tackle in an average day but it was incredibly rewarding to see how much we were able to achieve and what it meant to the team at Hope Pastures.
“Volunteering is extremely important to us all at Yorkshire Building Society – we know the skills our people can bring are often more valuable to charities and organisations than money alone.”
In 2015, Yorkshire Building Society colleagues, including N&P Building Society and Chelsea Building Society colleagues, spent more than 11,800 hours volunteering at charities and good causes around the UK.
Hope Pastures works with people and families across all areas of the community. It offers opportunities that are not available from other sources and has established itself as an important local resource.
It is open free of charge every day and is easily accessible by foot or public transport. The sanctuary runs educational and fun group visits and volunteering sessions including for the elderly, schools and brownies, and also takes ponies out on therapeutic visits, e.g. to drug/alcohol abuse centres and care homes. Importance Volunteering
For more information visit www.hopepastures.org Importance Volunteering
