Anchor is England's largest not-for-profit provider of housing and care for older people and everyday our residents enjoy meeting and socialising with our active group of dedicated volunteers.
We recognise and value the positive impact volunteering makes to people’s lives, not only the residents but equally those who give their time for the benefit of others.
Corporate and group volunteering demonstrates a genuine commitment to helping the local community, nurtures positive attitude, realigns perceptions and helps employees feel really good about the place they work. In fact it’s widely acknowledged that volunteering can increase employee job satisfaction, improve recruitment and retention and give colleagues the opportunity to collaborate together have a meaningful impact on their local community.
Over the years Anchor has facilitated a wide range of corporate and group volunteering opportunities often linked to recognised calendar events or at times when there is a need for increased publicity or interest. Here are just a few examples of the type of activities volunteers can take part in and the positive impact corporate volunteering can have:
Yorkshire Building Society
Volunteers from Yorkshire Building Society have spent time at Ashcroft care home in Bradford decorating corridors and brightening up resident’s doors.
Louise Neill, Volunteering Manager at Yorkshire Building Society, said: “At Yorkshire Building Society we recognise that time can be just as valuable a gift as money to charities and community groups. And we also recognise the wonderful benefit volunteering has on our colleagues.
“Helping the elderly and vulnerable in our society is one of our key strategic priorities and our partnership with Anchor allows us make a meaningful and lasting impact.
“Our colleagues, who have up to 31 hours’ volunteering time a year, enjoy being able to make a worthwhile difference and in turn Anchor, and their residents, benefit from the wide range of skills and talents our people have. It’s a wonderful partnership and one which we really do treasure.”
Keepmoat
Keepmoat engineers assembled a new greenhouse for the residents at Anchor’s Queen Elizabeth Court retirement housing scheme in Lancashire to ensure they could grow their seedlings in time for the summer months.
Keepmoat also provided a selection of seeds, soil, plant pots and gardening equipment to help the residents on their way.
Julie Baker, Community Liaison Manager at Keepmoat said: “Keepmoat’s Donated Hours scheme is ideal for assisting with projects such as this. We are helping to not only ensure that resident groups can continue with their valuable projects but also helping to enhance the wellbeing of those who get involved in the gardening. We would like to thank our partner Illingworth who have also supported this initiative.”
Allianz Insurance
Volunteers from Allianz Insurance have spent time at Godiva Lodge care home in Birmingham decorating the home’s communal areas and gardening for residents.
Charlotte Richardson, Training & Development Manager at Allianz Insurance said: “Here at Allianz our social responsibility strategy aligns with our business mission; to be the trusted partner, enabling people to move on and up in life and business. Additionally it’s important for us to be able to support our communities by working with the right organisations to challenge and support both environmental and social issues with the aim to bring about positive changes for the communities in which we operate.
“All of our employees are entitled to 10 hours paid leave per year to volunteer in their local community and this year we chose to spend our time at Anchor. Everyone agreed we each gained new skills and built new perspectives – seeing the results of our efforts within the day. But more importantly, we were able to make a difference to the environment of people living with dementia – a real passion for our team, and a focus in which we take back to our workplace and instances where we support our customers in similar circumstances.”
Leeds Action Group
Students from the University of Leeds, part of the Leeds Action Group, volunteer at Halcyon Court care home in Headingley on a regular basis.
The students organise a wide range of activities with residents, including reminiscence sessions, salsa, ballroom and Irish dancing, jewellery making, sing-alongs and live music performances.
We regularly share news about the amazing things our corporate volunteers do so do check out our latest news pages for more feel good stories.
