As part of this commitment every OT Group colleague has a day every year when they can go out and volunteer during a working day.
Last month, a team from OT Group sales division joined The Tree Council and young Tree Ambassadors at St Andrew’s Junior School in Hatfield to plant young trees at the school as part in The Tree Council’s Orchards for Schools programme. The team did a fantastic job planting over 100 native hazel, hawthorn, dogrose, dogwood, and spindle hedgerow whips, along with cherry, apple and pear trees which will provide a harvest for the school pupils for years to come.
This was part of a wider partnership with The Tree Council, which saw us help to raise enough funds for 70 schools to take part in The Tree Council’s Orchards for Schools programme. OT Group hope to establish long term volunteering partnerships with charities like the Tree Council, so in turn we can establish and grow long term opportunities for our colleagues to volunteer and empower them to find further ways to support the people that live in our communities. Over the coming months we also hope to continue to support St Andrews’ Junior School with further volunteering activities.
The team had great fun, and all reflected on the fact that volunteering is good for you! I’m sure that there might have been a few aching bones the next day, but the facts are there, volunteering can provide a healthy boost to self-confidence, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. What’s not to like about doing good for others and the community? Not only will it provide a natural sense of accomplishment, the role of a volunteer can also give you a sense of pride and identity.
In the last UK government Community Life Survey 2021/2022: Volunteering & Charitable Giving , which was published in February 2023, over 25 million people volunteered in the last 12 months and over 16 million volunteered once a month in the year leading up to the survey. That’s over 55% of respondents and 34% respondents respectively. Nearly 50% said that they volunteered to help improve the lives of others and to help people and 23% said that they felt there was a need in the community for their help.
Surely that many people volunteering shows that we all need to do more volunteering to help others and ourselves live a more fulfilled life.
If there are any charities or schools in the Ashton-Under-Lyne area that need our help, please do email us marketing@officeteam.co.uk.
