Teamwork makes the dream work – supporting the East London community during Volunteers’ Week
Teamwork makes the dream work – supporting the East London community during Volunteers’ Week
Written by Stanley Shepherd, Community Development Senior Project Manager, Challenge:ELBA
Community organisations often do not have the staffing, resources, or time to maintain the spaces they operate in and the services they provide. By engaging in Team Challenges, these organisations acquire the people power necessary to sustain the incredible work they carry out. Not only do Team Challenges benefit the recipient organisation, they also have a significant positive impact on the volunteers taking part. The pride in supporting the local community, along with the interactions with colleagues outside of a working environment, are part of the reason why over three quarters of volunteers report that volunteering improves their mental health and wellbeing.
Held annually from the 1st to the 7th of June since 1984, Volunteers’ Week provides an opportunity to honour the exceptional efforts of our groups that have participated in Team Challenges. Over this week, 353 volunteers across 14 separate volunteer teams took part in a range of practical activities. From horticultural work to supporting redevelopment projects, volunteers were not short of tasks to complete, and they did it brilliantly! We even had a team fish for plastic on World Environment Day, supporting this year’s #BeatPlasticPollution campaign. Three of the teams spent their day volunteering at Leyton Jubilee Park. Steve Williams, who is their Senior Park Ranger, has stated the importance of the volunteer teams:
“Maintaining the ecology area of the park is very labour intensive and we heavily rely on volunteers to keep it under control. Their hard work is really appreciated by the park and all the surrounding residents.”
If you would like to find out more about taking part in a Team Challenge, please contact challenge@elba-1.org.uk.
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