Team-based volunteering is a fun, interesting and meaningful way for Woodside employees to engage with each other in non-traditional settings outside the office. It also gives teams the opportunity to support community organisations by completing a worthwhile project that will last well beyond their single volunteer day.
The final team to go out on a team volunteering day in 2018 were the Turnaround team, who were keen to spend a work day out of the office and in to the tranquil and pristine Mary Carroll Wetland. They would be supporting the Armadale Gosnells Landcare Group (AGLG) and the Friends of Mary Carroll Wetland group with the last of the season’s planting.
A mix of Australian Operating Unit (AOU) members and Corporate Affairs workers came together to volunteer at Rocky Bay, an amazing organisation that supports people with disabilities. Volunteering Manager, Jenny Styles, provided the group with a comprehensive induction, which included a tour around the facility. The team’s tasks were to spread a huge pile of mulch along the site as well as wash a number of cars and vans that take Rocky Bay clients to their daily recreation activities. Since the group was quite small, it was miraculous that they managed to get through the giant mound of mulch well before departure time. The this crack team also managed to wash 11 vehicles, more than another company had done the week before (with more people!).
Bicycles for Humanity Western Australia (B4H) is part of an exciting global volunteer-run, non-profit organisation that uses donated bikes to help alleviate poverty through sustainable transport. Every year around 1.5 million bikes are sold across Australia – around half of those will end up unused or abandoned. B4H know this and repair bicycles to be sent to some of the world’s poorest regions. B4H’s bicycle recycling scheme contributes to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, promoting a future in which cities can provide opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation and more. SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, is also met through the act of repurposing old materials. Through their Bicycle Empowerment Centres, B4H is also working towards SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, by building skills and creating small businesses in developing countries.
A team of graduates from various departments at Woodside came together to volunteer at the Vinnies Distribution Centre in Canning Vale. The St Vincent de Paul Society, fondly known as “Vinnies”, is one of Australia’s largest and most highly regarded charities, and also operates in an additional 149 countries worldwide. They aspire for an Australia transformed by compassion and built on justice; they advocate on several pressing social justice issues such as homelessness, poverty and asylum seekers- no work of charity is foreign to them. The St Vincent de Paul Society provides a helping hand to many West Australians through food assistance, material aid, budget advice, shelter, advocacy, friendship and support. The warehouse team were in need of aid in the lead up to Christmas, specifically with Chirstmas hampers that would be donated to families and those in need during the Christmas period, which is what the small group of Woodside graduates helped with!