How would you like to give something back to our local community? What if the Faculty of Medicine helped make it happen?
Starting in the next academic year (October 2019) the Faculty of Medicine is organising a pilot volunteering scheme for all staff and PhD students. We will be the trail-blazers for the University. Everyone will be encouraged to participate in one day of volunteering per year. This “Volunteering Day” will be in addition to existing annual leave entitlements and can be taken at a time and place of your choice. It is not compulsory.
The only stipulation is that the time must be spent actively participating in some kind of voluntary service in our local area (not just Southampton, but the broader central south coast region). What this looks like is up to you. You might wish to spend a day at a local nursery or care home. You might have existing links with a charity shop or community activity. You might want to cook food for the homeless or join a group clearing litter from the Common.
Don’t worry if nothing immediately springs to mind. The newly formed “Faculty Volunteering Committee” is actively engaged in developing a list of charities and community enterprises that people can work with. Our hope here is that we will be able to provide a group of people from across the Faculty to work together as a team on their volunteering day to really make a difference. These groups should cross conventional academic unit boundaries and hierarchies so that we all get to know each other that bit better while having fun and giving something back. With over 700 staff we could make a massive difference to small charities, local events and activities. Imagine how quickly a team of 10 could paint a Scout hut or clear a waterway? Think of the number of leaflets we could deliver……..or cakes that could be baked!
The Volunteering Committee (Chaired by Professor Tim Underwood) are working on the mechanisms to make it as easy as possible for people to sign-up and be organised for specific events. Please bear with us as this develops, there will be teething problems. Hopefully, if we can identify the correct local charities they will be able to really help us deliver something extraordinary.
What do we need from you? For now, we would like suggestions about which charities or organisations we should consider partnering with for year 1. We need a range of options, so don’t hold back. If you know of a group who would really benefit from our help then please send a short message (with a link to the group if possible) to J.Hickman@soton.ac.uk.
We won’t be able to support every group and the Committee will choose 5 or 6 that represent the breadth of those suggested. Think, Healthy Planet and Healthy Ageing.
Let’s have some fun and make a difference!