Forth Valley College staff are offering their support to local charities as they focus on ‘Giving Back’ to help the local community and enhance their own personal development at the same time.
With large gatherings impossible due to the pandemic restrictions, FVC’s annual All Staff Development Day – scheduled for Friday 20 November – has had to be cancelled. However, the FVC workforce are still being given the opportunity to enhance their professional skills, by giving up a day of their time to help a local charity of their choice.
Many individuals and teams of staff have already identified the sector or organisation they wish to support, but there are some who are still undecided on who to support. That’s why the college wants to hear from charities in the Forth Valley area who would like to take advantage of a wide range of talented professionals and put their attributes to good work for a full day.
Ralph Burns, FVC’s Head of Human Resources, said: “The premise of this idea is to provide the community with the charitable donation of an important resource, the skills and time of our staff. Staff are being given the opportunity to provide a day of their time to support a charity of their choice. If successful we hope to continue in future years.
“The day is not about raising money it is about giving time back. This is an opportunity to be creative, active, supportive, to feel good and to make others feel good. At a time when many are isolated, this is a great opportunity to start something special.”
Dr Ken Thomson, Principal of Forth Valley College, said: “Yet again I find myself feeling pride in the actions of our college staff. Not content with going above and beyond throughout the pandemic lockdown, to make sure the college provided students with a high standard of remote learning to enable them to complete their courses, they are now volunteering to put something back into their local communities. Local charities are certainly going to benefit from the skills and experience of the college team, if they register for this initiative.”
Any registered charity who feels they could benefit from the support of a Forth Valley College staff member or group of staff, should e-mail givingback@forthvalley.ac.uk and register their interest by leaving their contact details and a brief description of what they would want them to be involved in.