London City Airport (LCY) has launched a staff volunteering policy that will see all staff volunteer in the local community for a minimum of eight hours a year, increasing to two days in 2024.
The implementation of the new staff volunteering policy forms part of the airport’s Sustainability Roadmap and its third sustainability pillar, ‘Helping East London Grow and Prosper’. LCY staff recently completed a summer volunteering fortnight in the local community, supporting several charities, food banks and educational programs in schools and mentoring students.
In the summer of 2023, LCY staff volunteered for the Ahoy center, a local water sports charity in one of London’s most deprived communities, undertaking jobs including cleaning walkways and the decking area and gardening. Ahoy runs activities such as rowing and sailing for disadvantaged and at-risk young people.
LCY staff also supported Redbridge Foodbank in giving out nutritionally balanced emergency food to people in need, and Little Village – a Hackney-based charity that supports families with children under five living in poverty across London – to provide essential items like clothes, shoes, cribs, diapers, toiletries, buggies and toys to those needing extra support. In addition, LCY staff helped the Community Food Enterprise prepare food parcels for customers and assisted drivers while they undertook food drop-offs.
Michael Spiers, chief people officer at London City Airport, said, “As one of the largest employers in the local area, we are committed to giving back and making positive contributions to our local community. Our improved volunteering policy will allow our staff to spend more time helping people and charities in our local community, which is really important to us at London City Airport.”
Dan O’Sullivan, fundraising manager at the Ahoy Centre, said, “Often tasks that help to maintain the facilities and better the experience of our users can be overlooked due to a lack of internal resources, so the time and efforts given by volunteers are extremely valuable to small charities like Ahoy. We’re grateful to the team from London City Airport for their recent volunteering day with Ahoy. It was great to welcome a team who were enthusiastic to get stuck in and learn about our cause – and we hope it won’t be too long until the team are back with us.”
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