Every year, members of the CHIC team engage in their own social value activities, across a range of volunteering activities to support individuals and local communities and to add to the work that CHIP delivers.
Part of this added value includes engaging with local communities delivering ‘hands on’ voluntary work for projects that need extra support
There have been a wide range of activities completed this year, as diverse as teaching young people archery, gardening, children’s basketball coaching, service dinners for homeless people, school governance and reading to elderly people.
One project involved members of the CHIC team visiting Holdcroft Road in Stoke-on-Trent, to carry out some external gardening work on behalf of Wrekin Housing Group. The properties are Learning Disability homes, where residents find it difficult to complete work themselves. The CHIC team assisted with painting garden sheds and tables, in addition to tidying of the garden areas.
“It was incredibly rewarding to see how a few hours of our time could make such a visible difference. Knowing the residents could enjoy their gardens again made it all worthwhile.” Martin Radbourne, Senior Business Intelligence Manager
Social value is a wider understanding of value, with value referring to money. When we remove the money, emphasis is placed on the ‘social’ i.e., engaging individuals to create value for others in the social environment. This is the commitment of the CHIC team, where every year we aim to increase our contribution to supporting others, by engaging in activities that will improve their lives. The work we completed for residents at Holdcroft Road enabled us to do just that – create a welcoming space in gardens for individuals living with learning disabilities.
