We are thanking its colleagues and customers who have been involved in volunteering activities over the past year as part of Volunteers’ Week.
During the last financial year, our colleagues used 234 volunteering days and took part in dozens of projects.
From supporting food waste projects to creating a forest school area for a primary school in Devon, colleagues have made a huge difference through the volunteering programme.
LiveWest is fully supportive of these projects and gives full-time colleagues four volunteering days each year (pro rata for part time).
The contributions made by our colleagues are being celebrated as part of the Volunteers’ Week taking place from June 1 to 7 - an annual celebration of the contribution millions of people make across the UK through volunteering.
More than 180 LiveWest colleagues took part in some volunteering over the past 12 months in order to make a difference to communities across the South West.
Anna Lawrence, our Director of People, said: “As an organisation with a social purpose, we fully support our colleagues taking part in volunteering projects.
“It has been heartening to see the wide variety of volunteering we get involved with – all with a purpose of enhancing and giving back to the communities we serve.
“Volunteers’ Week is an important celebration of all the selfless acts being carried out in order to improve people’s lives.
“By giving our colleagues four days volunteering a week, we are encouraging them to seek out ways in which they can support the work we are doing in our neighbourhoods across the South West.”
One of these volunteers is Shona Young, one of our Customer Engagement Officers. She, along with a group of colleagues, has volunteered at St James Primary School in Okehampton to help build a forest school benefitting the education and wellbeing of the pupils.
Shona said: “We are really lucky as our customers give hundreds of voluntary hours every year to help us improve LiveWest services.
“But we also know that many of our customers volunteer regularly in their own communities, and this is something we would love to celebrate as well.”
Lindsey Hill, our People Data and Delivery Manager, also joined and would encourage others to do some volunteering.
Lindsey said: “It was such hard work, I never thought we'd achieve what we hoped to in the day, but we did.
“It was amazing, and the school were absolutely thrilled, and I have to say, we were proud of what we achieved to make a difference.”
Alison Knight, a Community Connector for LiveWest, supports and trains volunteers for another project the Tavy fridge.
This community fridge project In Tavistock collects good food that would otherwise be thrown out and gives away for free. The project has around 30 volunteers and support from local shops and businesses.
Alison Knight said: “It is very rewarding to be involved in this project and see it come to fruition.
“Tavistock as a town has been amazing as people understand why we are doing this and support the project either by volunteering or by using the project or even by donating home grown fruit and vegetables.”