April Roundup

The beginning of April was definitely no joke. We had a record number of Team Challenges in one week - 7 to be exact - and so the first week of April has been dubbed 'The Unofficial Staff Volunteering Week'.

The Monday saw the first of three DUBS teams from the week help out at Stockton Road Cemetery by adding bark chippings to the paths. Meanwhile, at the Stockton Campus, the first ever John Snow College Team Challenge took place. The group of 10 volunteers assembled information packs for If U Care Share.

Tuesday was another double Team Challenge day. The second DUBS team volunteered for the day at LionMouth Rural Centre. They cut back brambles and planted foxgloves - they even brought the sunny weather with them! Tuesday afternoon saw our monthly Stray Aid volunteering with staff from across the University come together to walk some of the dogs in Hardwick Park.

We returned to LionMouth on Wednesday with the Research Office who carried on the jobs from the previous day, and a few more. With a group of 24 volunteers and 5 hours of volunteering, all jobs were done and exceeded by 3pm.

Thursday saw the third and final DUBS team garden at Ushaw College. The group, who are based at the College, volunteered right on their doorstep; they weeded and moved plants as well as turn the soil over and create a new flowerbed.

Friday saw the final challenge and a return to Ushaw College, this time with the Finance department. The team of 5 continued turning the soil which the DUBS team started. The soil, however, was a completely different texture to the soil the DUBS team dealt with, even though it was all in the same area, making the challenge all the more difficult.

Every volunteer thoroughly enjoyed their day and loved doing something different.

With a week filled with challenges, 6 of them outside, there was a slight worry that the weather would get in the way and ruin people's experiences. Well, we couldn't have asked for better weather! Every day there was sunshine and warmth - the perfect volunteering climate!

Another two challenges round up April's volunteering: DUBS helped sort donations at a Willow Burn Hospice shop and the Finance team broke the record for the highest number of volunteers at one team challenge, totalling 34 staff members at Stockton Road Cemetery.

April's Stats:
Team Challenges = 9
Number of volunteers = 113
Total number of volunteering hours = 451.5