Back 2 School Volunteering at HAF

January 2024

This week nurseries, schools and colleges re-opened their doors after the Christmas break and last week some of our CX team spent time volunteering at a local holiday club offering a helping hand, or two!

(HAF) The Holiday Activities and Food Programme in Oldham is a series of funded activities during the school holidays aimed to get children who attend to:

• Eat more healthily over the school holidays
• Be more active during the school holidays
• Be safe and not to be socially isolated
• Have a greater knowledge of health and nutrition
• Be more engaged with school when they return

Throughout the day, our team supported various activities, from crafting to archery, becoming an extra pair of hands for the club volunteers for the 60 children in attendance each day.

But that’s not all – we brought even more creativity to the table by supplying art and craft materials. Together, we helped the children craft beautiful calendars, leaving a lasting mark of our day.

Diane Service, Manager at St.Thomas School HAF was so grateful for the support and said: 

“We were very grateful for the volunteer support from Findel at our HAF club at St Thomas Primary School Werneth. We had children from aged 5 to 11 at the club, some of which have SEND and really enjoy the freedom to choose their own activities. One of the main objectives of the club is for the children to have fun and Kirsty, Laura, Sue and Kerri helped us to achieve this!

Kirsty and Laura joined in with craft activities using the resources supplied by Findel and also did some baking, and Sue and Kerri were given the task to make bird feeders with a group of children, and they helped to supervise the children during outdoor play too. They all just joined in and helped to support the children with the activities and we really enjoyed meeting the ladies and hope they enjoyed their time with us.”

Volunteering is at the heart of our business and one of the core pillars of the Findel Foundation, being able to support younger generations through initiatives like this not only helps children but is really rewarding for our colleagues.