It was a day filled with compassion, teamwork, and a shared commitment to making a difference, for our Technology Issuers Services volunteers. They contributed their time and efforts to support local charity, Julian Trust, at its night shelter. The charity provides essential support to people facing homelessness and difficult circumstances.
Our Computershare volunteers covered the work of the shelter for the day. They prepared a nourishing meal; cleaned and created a welcoming environment for the shelter’s residents and took part in a painting project that infused the shelter with the positive Julian Trust green colour.
The Volunteer Day not only touched the lives of those supported by Julian Trust but also left a lasting impression on our own team:
Whilst the team in Bristol were busy helping at the night shelter, their Issuer Services’ colleagues based in Edinburgh took part in their own volunteering initiative at VIE Velo.
VIE Velo is an Edinburgh-based charity dedicated to ensuring people with visual impairments get to experience the joy of cycling on tandem bikes with help from sighted riders. It provides training on tandem cycling to impaired and sighted new riders, as well as organising rides twice a month growing the local community and encouraging support and interactions.
Our team of volunteers helped with the maintenance and washing of its fleet of tandem bikes and had the opportunity to experience what the visually impaired experience in a unique session where they rode on the back of a tandem bike with “special glasses” being guided by the charity’s experienced sighted riders.
The immersive experience enabled the volunteers to build strong connections with its members and understand the true impact of the charity’s work and the significance of volunteering.
Following the work of the UK Technology Issuer Services team, nine of their colleagues on the other side of the world in Melbourne took part in a group volunteer day at the end of July with Empower Australia.
Empower Australia is an organisation dedicated to providing food relief and support to vulnerable individuals in our community, it opens its food relief centres to the public on Sundays, to deliver an experience designed to mimic grocery shopping in a supermarket and give recipients of such an experience a space where they can connect and seek assistance.
Our volunteers spent the day at the charity’s main distribution centre packing fresh produce, stocking shelves, and lifting dry goods so that they were ready for distribution. The experience was not only impactful for the recipients but also transformative for the team:
Over in the United States, a group of Corporate Trust Document Custody employees supported their community at the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery. The crisis nursery is a resource for families who are experiencing barriers such as unemployment, homelessness, medical or mental health concerns, poverty, domestic violence, or other difficult situations.
The team prepared a warm lunch for kids, ranging in age from two to six years old, and took the opportunity to spend time with the children during their lunchtime. They reinforced the organisation’s efforts to help the kids learn mindful eating by pointing out the different textures, temperatures, and tastes that they were experiencing.
The Document Custody team agreed that it was time well-spent, and they look can’t wait to spend another volunteer day with this organization in the future.
