Today, April 15th, marks Microvolunteering Day. Here at Bennie, we fully support giving back to the community, not only through our own charitable work, but also through our employees. We allow 1 day per month for employees to undertake a volunteering role during working hours.
Microvolunteering Day promotes awareness of the microvolunteering concept and how it can enable worthy causes and individuals to better the world via bite-sized actions. You do not have to volunteer for a full day every week on a regular basis, it can be undertaken at short and convenient times, whenever you are free.
Today we’d like to highlight the volunteer work of one of our employees, Marie. Marie at Bennie Equipment, volunteers once a month at Kettering Rotary Club Dementia Café:
Marie’s Volunteering Work
I volunteer at the Kettering Rotary Club Dementia Café, which takes place once a month.
I first found out about the dementia café when my mum used to come visit me, she suffers from dementia so I thought it would be a lovely club to join whilst she was here. The café enables both those suffering with dementia, as well as their partners and families to meet other people in the same situation.
You can chat over tea, coffee and cake, as well as take part in different activities each month from ribbon dancing to singing. Music is important to those suffering from dementia, it acts as a light switch, remembering song lyrics to remembering a period when they heard the song in the past.
The café helped me to learn a lot more about dementia, where I could go for extra help, other dementia friendly groups, etc. Everyone was just so welcoming and so lovely, that I wanted to give something back. I began to volunteer, handing out teas, coffees and cakes as well as running raffles. I have had to stop volunteering due to Covid, but I am looking forward to volunteering again once the Café can run again.
For more information about Kettering Rotary Club, visit their website: https://www.ketteringrotary.co.uk/