Volunteering Around the World
With COVID-19 restrictions easing, we welcomed opportunities to gather team members and give together, also known as our Days of Caring. We planned as many outdoor activities as possible to protect the health and safety of our staff and community partners. We also launched our global Month of Caring initiative, when many of our business units hold Days of Caring.
We participated in a variety of volunteer activities, including mowing grass and planting flowers for seniors in Estevan, maintenance work at Gateway Golf Club in North Portal, painting the gazebo at Woodlawn Regional Park and repair work at the Expressway Family Centre. We also held Days of Caring at Bow Valley Park and the Carlyle Gymnastics Club.
We participated in many rewarding events, including year-end BBQs to support local schools and the Early Childhood Development Centre, cooking and socializing with seniors in Delburne, constructing cars for kids with disabilities through Variety Alberta, and supporting students to develop music skills through the Highwood Lions Music Festival.
Activities included helping our Flagship Partner, Inn from the Cold, with cleaning and organizing as they prepared to move into their new location. We also helped with landscaping at the Wood’s Homes Vermilion Energy Family Centre and resumed our monthly meal service volunteering with the Drop-in Centre.
We supported Food for Thought, an organization that works to eliminate childhood hunger, with volunteers helping assemble PowerSacks that contain two meals of non-perishable food to feed a family of four over the weekend.
The Belmullet Tidal Pool has been part of the community’s cultural and social heritage for over 40 years. Over time, algae build up that need to be removed, so our dedicated group of volunteers keep busy scrubbing and cleaning.
We worked with the Volunteer Centre Zagreb at the Laduč children's home. where we cared for the lawn and flower garden, and whitewashed and cleaned the surroundings.
We helped the Hungarian Food Bank Association, located in Budapest, with a food drive to purchase food supplies and prepare lunch for 120 people who are experiencing homelessness and poverty.
2023 began with a Day of Caring in the forest of Schönewörde, where groups of volunteers cleared and cleaned nesting boxes that mimic and support the natural hollows of a bird's environment, providing comfortable and safe place to rest in and raise their young. Together, our volunteers took over the maintenance/cleaning for the 12th time, and they plan to return next year!
It was a busy year in France: we helped make sure cyclists taking part in a race through Blandy stayed safe, we helped to clean bank and marshes in the Lake Environment of Born, improving the local environment for all to enjoy, and we gathered toys and supplies to help families in need have a festive holiday.
