Record volunteering hours given by London Stansted Airport staff

London Stansted Airport employees have given over 7000 hours of their time to volunteer in the local community in the past 12 months.

Over 350 directly-employed London Stansted staff took part in projects throughout the year, supporting communities close to the airport. The airport encourages its staff to offer their skills on a voluntary basis to not only help strengthen ties with the areas in which colleagues live and work, but to also support employee wellbeing and engagement.

The total volunteering hours of more than 7000 in 2018-19 beat the previous year’s total of just under 5000 hours given by 220 staff.

Some of the volunteer projects carried out this year have included:

• Village hall painting and decorating
• Maintenance of large gardens and land belonging to older residents and at hospices or residential care facilities
• Supporting work experience students from partners schools and colleges
• Dedicated one-to-one mentoring with local GCSE students in-school
• Mock interview hosting
• Pet walking for elderly owners
• Litter picking locally
• Serving Christmas dinners at community social events combatting loneliness

Teams from across the airport go out in groups large and small, including staff from airport senior management, security, the airport Fire Service, engineering, operations, HR, finance and many more.

Marcella M’Rabety, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at London Stansted, said:

“I’m very proud of the efforts of so many London Stansted staff who volunteer and help valuable causes and projects – more than ever have taken time out this year to get out into local villages and towns and contribute their time, labour, experience and knowledge.

“Hundreds of our staff and their families live close to the airport and are keen to get involved in their communities. We fully support our staff in giving both work time and their own time to local projects, and reward and celebrate their support via our own recognition schemes.

“We welcome requests from a whole range of projects and will always do our best to find teams to support activity if it takes place in communities close by or linked to the airport.”

Clive Emmett, CEO of Council for Voluntary Service Uttlesford, said:

“The contribution that the staff from Stansted Airport have made through their volunteering days has done so much to help the Uttlesford Community and the Voluntary Sector as a whole. I believe that the Stansted volunteering scheme is an example many other local businesses could follow. A big thank you to everyone involved.”

Neil Banks, London Stansted’s Head of Passenger Services and Harlow resident, said:

“I think it’s really important to give something back to the community, and what better way to do that than getting out and about, representing the airport and helping those who need our support. We can all get consumed in our own busy lives so taking the time to do a bit of gardening or packing food parcels is not only satisfying and very rewarding for me personally, it also has such a positive impact in our local community which I’m very proud to be part of.”

Sarah Martin, who is a member of the Health and Safety team and lives in Saffron Walden, said:

“I absolutely love volunteering, it’s a real passion of mine knowing I can make an actual and positive difference to people’s lives through what I get involved with. I spend a lot of time supporting various educational initiatives and helping children of all ages at our Aerozone education centre, schools in Bishop’s Stortford or at my children’s school in Saffron Walden. The enjoyment and satisfaction I gain from volunteering is really fantastic and something I would recommend to anyone as it has such a positive and lasting effect on all involved.”

Kristin Young lives in Bishop’s Stortford and is London Stansted’s Airside Security Manager:

“Working at the airport and living very local gives me a fantastic opportunity to help make a difference in my community through volunteering. I’ve been able to get involved in lots of great activities and schemes, and when the day job is so demanding, it’s refreshing and really rewarding to be able to take time out with our teams and give something back to the community, whether its painting school fences, digging gardens or helping coach students on future career planning.”

Kate Greer, Business Engagement Officer for Rainbow Services in Harlow, said:

“As part of Rainbow Services’ Business Engagement Project we have worked closely with the community relations team at Stansted Airport to assist with finding opportunities for employees to volunteer within the voluntary vector and local community.

“This mutually beneficial relationship has seen many local organisations welcome volunteers from the airport, including Michael Roberts Charitable Trust, St Elizabeth’s, Princess Alexandra Hospital and our own Community Builder Project. It has allowed employees to see first-hand the fantastic work happening in and around Harlow and to really get involved, make a difference and find out more about different organisations, the work they do and how this benefits the community.”

Projects, organisations, charities and schools are welcome to request assistance from the London Stansted Airport community team. Details should be sent to stn_communityrelations@stanstedairport.com for the team to assess what help can be offered, depending on project and operational availability of staff.