Making time for social initiatives; right now!
In our previous blog we already shared some volunteer work experiences of several colleagues within UNIGLOBE Alliance Travel & goMICE. Marieke, Business Travel Consultant in Arnhem, also felt the urge to make herself useful in other ways as soon as requests for business travel came to a virtual standstill. Because of the many reports in the media asking for volunteers and the possibility offered by Uniglobe Alliance Travel to devote a few hours each week during working hours to volunteer work, I seized this opportunity.
Working in the food bank's refrigeration department
I immediately started looking for people in the neighborhood and signed up as a volunteer at several organizations. Almost immediately I received a message from the distribution center of the food bank in Arnhem that they were looking for someone to help in the refrigeration, so if I could stand the cold and liked physical work, I was very welcome. This was tailor-made for me and a few days later I could start working.
The cold store is a large hall where huge amounts of products are stored that are offered by various supermarkets. At the distribution center in Arnhem, crates of food packages are collected by various towns around Arnhem to be distributed locally. In addition, various supermarkets deliver piles of crates with all kinds of products they have collected or leftovers that have been left in the warehouse. These products must then be sorted so that it can also be distributed. My job includes preparing and then preparing the food packages for the drivers who pick it up the next day. At the end of the shift, part of the hall is full of yellow stacked crates, which gives a tremendous sense of accomplishment.
It immediately struck me what a well-oiled machine this organization is, consisting of only volunteers. Great that something like this is possible and that I am (still) part of it. There is an incredibly good atmosphere, with an enormous diversity of people and everyone working incredibly hard. It has given me a positive energy boost by making myself useful for a good cause during this difficult period.
A cleaner environment starts with yourself!
In addition, my daughter, 7-year-old Indigo, and I are litter volunteers because we are very concerned about nature and are extremely annoyed that there is litter everywhere. We regularly walk around our neighborhood armed with a litter grab and garbage bag to pick up litter. On March 20 was the National Clean-up Day and also the whole week waste relay in Arnhem. So time to set up our own action, since cleaning up in groups is currently out of the question. The plan was quickly drawn up: we would walk a different round each day and clean up all the trash we came across. The motivation was great, even in the rain and in the dark we walked our rounds. And we even added another weekend to it, because we could have added some more bags.
After the rounds, there were bags filled with cans, mouth caps, candy wrappers and others in our yard. In total, we cleaned up 28 kilos of litter! The neighborhood looks a little cleaner again and I am convinced that my daughter will always throw her trash neatly in the garbage can. At school she has told about our action and there are many children who now also want to become litter volunteers. If I can achieve the same effect through this blog as my daughter did in her class, we will have more than met our target and more and more waste heroes will join us. A cleaner environment starts with yourself!
Want to read more about our social and community actions? Read here on Managing Director Anita's experiences for the Red Cross.
Travel Well
Marieke Bosch
Business Travel Consultant
