The University of Bristol supports all its staff to take one day of volunteering leave per year to help make a positive impact in the local community. This November, the Bristol Poverty Institute (BPI) brought together teams of staff from across the University to return to volunteer at a local food bank and Social Justice Hub, helping out a good cause and having a really rewarding, enjoyable day with colleagues in the process.
This year, we brought together a combination of BPI team members, academic researchers, and colleagues from the Research Development teams in the Division of Research, Enterprise and Innovation. In previous years, our foodbank volunteering days have been largely focussed on sorting through donated food items in the warehouse; however, this year was a little different! In a few weeks, the foodbank will be handing out Christmas presents to the customers who rely on the foodbank, bringing a little Christmas joy alongside their usual food parcels. We were therefore tasked with working through dozens of boxes of donated gifts, wrapping them up, and allocating them to the most suitable age and gender category.
We bundled together different value and types of items to make nice gift-worthy combinations. For example, a mix of bath products and some colourful scrunchies, a book and a toy, or a necklace and a pair of socks. It was really fun putting together combinations which we thought people might like, and we really hope that the presents help bring some extra Christmas cheer to people struggling in the face of the cost-of-living crisis. We wrapped A LOT of presents and had a great time doing it, and towards the end of the day we were already having a chat about volunteering at the foodbank again next year!
Before heading home, I had a chat with the foodbank’s Assistant Manager and Volunteering Lead, Hazel, who advised that they are always keen to hear from people interested in volunteering, particularly anyone who can help out in December in the run up to Christmas, one of the busiest times for them. So, if this has inspired you, check out their website and contact them! And please consider popping something in the foodbank donation boxes next time you’re at the supermarket.
You can find out about our past volunteering days in our previous blog posts: