Volunteering with purpose
Besom – sweeping away suffering
It would be great if you could just pick up a witches brush and sweep all your troubles away. This weekend I heard a talk from a society that tries to do just that in the community. Guildford Besom www.besom.com/local-besoms/guildford will do any of the following:-
- Clear gardens
- Decorate
- Collect unwanted goods
- Furniture
- White goods
- Toys
- Clothes
They identify the people who need the support by gathering information from local charities. The support is very immediate and particularly with the more practical and physical tasks is a great sense of achievement for the volunteers.
Many companies have their giving back schemes, however they are often quite hard to make happen quickly. It is not the fault of business having tried myself to organise a team day. Charities are often not that flexible, and in fairness it is hard for them to accommodate one-off activities with amateurs.
Organisations need to identify the purpose of the session not to just tick a box as this will not engage hearts and minds. Projects that have a beginning and an end ensure the team will the feel a sense of achievement. Gardening and decorating are perfect as you have a before and after. Community projects that are longer term can also help everyone so that the learning and development of working with different people and environments is shared by charity and business.
Focus on one thing this week you could do that would sweep away troubles for some-one in your family/community.
Nuggets would be happy to help with team volunteering days, please contact bev@nuggetsoflearning.co.uk
