Tishman Speyer's Global Volunteering Day
On Wednesday 21 June, Tishman Speyer celebrated a collective Global Volunteering Day. Colleagues around the world downed tools and headed out into their communities to give back. Here in London, 36 volunteers headed to St Peter’s CE Primary School to tackle a mix of DIY, creative and gardening tasks. This is the second year Tishman Speyer colleagues have spent their Volunteering Day at St Peter’s School, and staff were delighted to have them back. The volunteers had set a precedent for creating incredibly characterful crafts after they spent last year’s session making beloved children’s literary characters, which still adorn the entrance to the school 12 months on.
Tishman Speyer own The Point building here in Paddington, and we work with them to organise a number of community activities both within their building (recent examples include welcoming school and dementia choirs, hosting local older people for games afternoons or tea and cake on their rooftop garden) and for Tishman Speyer colleagues to volunteer on site at community partners. For this event, we worked closely with Tishman Speyer and St Peter's School to organise the day, put together a list of the most impactful tasks they could complete and supported the team with ordering supplies. A member of our Community team attends all events to provide safeguarding and first aid cover and to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Volunteers were split into groups to make as large an impact across the school as possible. One group of volunteers flexed their creative skills and put together a colourful rainbow mural welcoming people to the school. They also designed props for Year 6’s upcoming performance of The Lion King, creating leaves and plants out of paper and ordering a bespoke bird mask and Savannah backdrop. Pupils started the day by treating volunteers to a rendition of Circle of Life, helping to inspire their stage design ideas.
The largest team set to work in the sunshine to sand and paint benches, a storage cupboard and a large reading hut, freshening up the areas where children read, play and enjoy picnics.
A smaller group of colleagues spent the day in the school’s garden, where pupils learn about growing herbs and plants and caring for nature. This team sanded and painted chairs and a garden box, and worked with Year 5 and 6 students to plant seeds in colourful pots. The pupils will now help to care for the plants as they grow into lettuce, herbs and more to hopefully be enjoyed in many school dinners to come.
If your Paddington team has been inspired by the incredibly creative efforts of our Tishman Speyer volunteers, do get in touch with our Community Team to learn how you can get involved.
28.06.23
