A CHARITABLE initiative which promotes community volunteering among Darlington’s leading employers has racked up almost 500 voluntary hours in under a year.
Darlington Cares was formed in October 2012 to bring together the skills, expertise and volunteering manpower of employers in Darlington to make a difference to the community.
Hosted by Teesside University in Darlington, some of the town’s biggest employers including Cummins, DeepOcean, Sherwoods and Darlington Council have encouraged their employees to work on a range of projects including litter picks, community centre decorating and working with schoolchildren.
So far the initiative has delivered 465 hours of volunteering by 113 employees over ten projects and programme manager, Katie Blundell, said: “I am delighted with the progress we have made, both in terms of the projects we have worked on and in engaging more businesses to join.
“We have demonstrated the value of helping employers match their skills and volunteering manpower to worthwhile projects in the town.”
A flagship Darlington Cares project recently took place at The Bridge arts centre off Yarm Road with Esh Group employees redecorating the building inside and out.
Twenty-five people have also been trained as part of a Busy Readers scheme which will see volunteers go into five Darlington primary schools to listen to children read.
And in the latest Darlington Cares initiative, Lingfield Point business park has provided free storage for use by the Bike Stop social enterprise which renovates donated bicycles and sells them on to raise money for homeless charity First Stop.
Tracy Freeman, chief executive of First Stop Darlington, said: “We really appreciate the support of Darlington Cares and we thank Lingfield Point for giving us the capacity to take in more donated bikes in a secure environment.”
Ms Blundell thanked all the businesses involved in Darlington Cares and invited more to join up.
She said: “The more employers we have on board the bigger the impact we can have on the local community.”
Any employers interested in finding out more about joining Darlington Cares, or charity and community groups with potential projects can contact Ms Blundell on 01642-738970, email k.blundell@tees.ac.uk or visit www.darlingtoncares.co.uk
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