This month Team Alpha supported Volunteer’s Week 2022
Volunteers’ Week is an annual celebration of the contribution millions of people make to the communities around them through volunteering.
At Alpha we support our teams to volunteer through the allocation of volunteering days that can be used to support any registered charity.
Here’s some of the great volunteering that our team has been participating in with some wonderful charities.
While at uni in London, I signed up to the St John Ambulance (SJA) first aid society – mainly so I could go to Premier League matches for free, as a volunteer first aider! When I moved to Singapore in 2015 I joined the local Red Cross unit who provide similar services to SJA – both in Singapore & internationally. I volunteer with Red Cross as a community first aider (for events), HoME+ (responding to alerts if an elderly person may be injured at home), and the Emergency Response Team which is activated if there is a major incident in Singapore. During my early days here, it was a great to opportunity to meet local Singaporeans and explore the local community – especially as I was initially the only Alpha employee in the country!
Paul Monk, CEO
CentrePoint have been hosting Sleep Out events for the last 15 years. Annually they hold events across UK cities to raise money and awareness for youth homelessness. Two events were held in London this November: The Community Sleep Out with friends and family, followed by the Corporate Sleep Out with colleagues. I spent the afternoon helping to set up the Corporate event site for the participants that night. Along with a group of volunteers, we undertook several tasks to make the site safe, and somewhat comfortable, for the expected 1200 sleepers. As part of the event they had one large marquee tent for the sleepers, at the top of the tent was a stage where young people would share their stories of how they turned their lives around since engaging with CentrePoint. Finally, across the way, there was a bar tent for the participants to buy a few drinks before lights out at 11pm, when their long cold night on the ground starts.
Amy Elice, Programme Manager
I recently volunteered for two days at the Remus Memorial Sanctuary in Essex. This sanctuary is home to over 200 animals, (mostly horses but also sheep, goats, chicken, cats…) most of whom are victims of physical and mental abuse. Many of the animals have lifelong injuries or psychological scars but they now live in a haven of peace and tranquillity where they are free to be themselves with no demands made on them and will live the rest of their days in safety. It really is a wonderful place, and it was heart-warming to see how the animals are so loved as well as being expertly cared for.
The sanctuary is the only UK member sanctuary of the US-based SARA (Shelter Animal Reiki Association) so is obviously very pro-Reiki and other holistic therapies. As I’m a Reiki Master specialising in horses, and an Equine Massage therapist, they were keen for me to spend my Alpha volunteering days with them. They also take veterinary students on secondment, one of whom asked to shadow me as he had a special interest in holistic treatments – interest in alternative therapy seems to be growing in the veterinary world which is great.
Due to the nature of the animals’ conditions the treatments were purely to help them to be more comfortable, both physically and psychologically.
Kate Chandler, Design & Materials Manager
