Employee volunteers dial to make a difference

As part of National Volunteers' Week we wanted to recognise the commitment and passion regularly shown by Zurich employee volunteers all over the UK. With the benefit of a three day volunteering allowance, employees donate an average of 4,500 days every year through our various programmes and initiatives. 

From sharing their skills with our charity partners, to completing community projects as part of our flagship 'Challenge' programme, to calling an older person who's feeling lonely and isolated as part of our Call in Time volunteering programme, run in partnership with Age UK - there really is an opportunity to suit everybody.

 

Kayleigh Millen, a ZCT Programme Manager, is one of many employees who volunteer for Call In Time and has donated her time to the telephone befriending service for the last 8 years. Kayleigh shares her volunteering experience in her own words below, which really captures the very essence of what volunteers' week is all about.

Over to Kayleigh, with thanks;

"Lockdown has been tough for so many of us, separated from friends and family all over the place. However, the sad reality is that for a lot of Call in Time clients, isolation is the norm.

I’ve been a Call in Time volunteer for around 8 years. I first heard about the scheme when I joined the Whiteley Charity Committee. I thought it sounded like a wonderful idea and I couldn’t believe that it was something we were able to complete in our working day! As someone who has always lived far away from my elderly relatives (my family are from Preston, Lancashire), I knew how important a phone call could be to someone living alone, so I signed up immediately.

My first telephone friend was a lady called Jo. She was in her mid-eighties, at least I think so; the number would change week to week! Whilst Jo did have a son, he did not live nearby and couldn’t visit very often. Tragically, she had lost her daughter to cancer a few years before our conversations took place. Initially, she used to get very teary and upset about her daughter on our weekly call. I won’t lie, it was heart-breaking, but it made me even more determined to be there for Jo, albeit at the end of the phone. I’m pleased to say within a few weeks, I managed to turn our conversations into far happier experiences for the pair of us; she loved to talk about the weather and we were  always laughing and joking about what I’d been up to in my hectic schedule – she never did take up my offer of going in goal for my football team! I will NEVER forget the audible delight in her voice when she realised who was calling.

As the weeks, months and years went by, our weekly conversations were a real highlight of my working week. I spoke to Jo every Wednesday at 3pm for more than 7 years.

Sadly, at the beginning of last year, that partnership had to come to an end due to Jo’s deteriorating health. I took a few months out of the scheme – it was like grieving for a real-life friend. However, I promised Age UK that I would be back and I have of course been true to my word. Now, every Thursday at 3, I speak to a lady called Helen. We’re both members of the LGBT community, massive football fans, bingo lovers, film fanatics and love a good trip to the pub – it’s safe to say we never run out of things to talk about. Call in Time are fantastic at matching you to a like-minded individual to speak to. Helen is classified as vulnerable during Covid-19 so I am acutely aware of how important our calls are. Just like Jo before her, Helen really appreciates our chats each week (miraculously really considering she loves Liverpool and I love Everton!)

I honestly could not recommend volunteering for initiatives like Call in Time more. It is such a lovely feeling to know you’re helping somebody so much, just by picking up the phone. Just 30 minutes out of your week means the world to these individuals."

We want to take the opportunity to thank all volunteers across the UK and the globe for all the selfless hard work they do to support their communities and those more vulnerable. Each and every one of your acts of kindness helps to make someone's world a little brighter.

#NationalVolunteersWeek #LoveVolunteers #CouldntDoItWithoutYou #ActsOfKindness #ThankYou

Get in touch!
For more information about this story please contact:

Rachel Beddis
Marketing and Communications Manager
01793 503718
rachel.beddis@zct.org.uk