Best wishes to everyone in sweet Trinidad and Tobago as we review, reflect and recharge after another successful year, 2023. Let us set SMARTER goals in alignment with elements of our customised ‘Wheel of Life’ and enter an exciting new year, 2024! What were your highlights of 2023? What were your lows? What lessons have you learnt? (Background music playing from Ms. Nadia “Market” Batson: If yuh looking for sweetness to put inside yuh life basket …).
We at HRMATT have a compelling opportunity for you to design your steps through the volunteerism path to construct an intentional, fulfilling 2024. Let’s dive in here.
Volunteerism is reaching out and giving access to an improved quality of life at the axis of kindness, care, generosity, love and happiness, to all in my communities. It’s a willingness to pour into the lives of others—a legacy feature of my family anchored across the globe, where we invest and share our time, talents, and treasures with others.
For those who understand how to tap into your creative source, this is not about reciprocity, rather you’ll access a sense of fulfilment that monetary gain cannot rival. Anyone can become a volunteer, and to share a fun fact, Teamstage, a team management organisation, estimates there are approximately one billion volunteers worldwide. So, you’ll be in good company.
Here are some benefits to engaging in meaningful volunteer experiences:
- You will live in your purpose and increase your self-worth
- You can build resilient communities and enjoy fun networking opportunities
- You’ll assist persons/organisations, stretching your capacity
- You can build your brand, passion and résumé
- You’ll combat isolation while nurturing positive mental well-being, decrease anxiety and lower your blood pressure, all while developing pathways to physical health.
Still not on my WII FM [What’s In It For Me] frequency from a personal perspective? Hailing our leaders and those in the C-Suites, consider the strategic benefits to your organisation when it becomes an agent of volunteerism.
At HRMATT, we consistently champion employee involvement and participation to leverage positive employee satisfaction indices and performance indicators. We all know the maxim ‘Happy Employees = Happy Customers. Ultimately, this sustains your company’s healthy bottom line and strengthens your corporate social reputation. This alone is potentially estimated to have an economic value of US$122.9 billion (americorps.gov, January 2023).
A successful local example that provides proof of this worthy investment is Scotiabank. Many citizens can reference Scotia’s oversubscribed PINK drive, the 5K Breast Cancer walk. Corporate teams, NGOs and private citizens congregate annually at the Queen’s Park Savannah to participate, wearing their branded apparel, helping to heighten awareness and raise funds for cancer research.
Research shows that corporate volunteerism is good for business. It can help grow your business, boost your return on investment, and improve brand recognition among jobseekers, consumers and investors alike (galaxydigital.com).
In addition, a 2016 Deloitte Impact Survey indicated that corporate volunteer programmes may be able to help employees develop stronger professional and leadership skill sets and better prepare employees for leadership roles: 92 per cent of respondents agreed that volunteering improves employees’ broader professional skill sets.
If this is a bit overwhelming for you, we can examine this list of the main categories of volunteer work and projects that can be considered for your teams in 2024:
- Environmental — Most companies and non-profits coordinated activities such as beach clean-ups.
- Animals — Support your local kennels.
- Education — Alumni associations can advise of mentorship opportunities to support youth life-skills training and development. Additionally, the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service (MYDNS) launched an information caravan with various governmental and social partners to strategically engage our youth with development opportunities/initiatives. This, we at HRMATT supported religiously.
- Social — The credit union fraternity hosts an annual debate to educate and develop the next generation of leaders. For example, one could participate as a coach to teach and mentor young persons to hone their debate skills.
- Healthcare — Participate in the Ministry of Health’s “T&T Moves” campaign. Host an “Aerobic Burnout” at your office as a collaborative initiative for World Health Day on April 7, 2024. Remember, regular exercise combats the ill effects of most lifestyle diseases like diabetes and hypertension.
- Sports/Leisure — It is an Olympic year! Inquire about the support needed by the Trinidad & Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC). Be proactive by choosing to support the efforts of our young athletes. This help would be greatly appreciated.
Now, we are ready to address a few actionable items to get you started today.
Be encouraged as you flip on your altruistic attributes and deliberately block time in your calendar to volunteer this year. Locally, the Volunteer Centre of Trinidad and Tobago serves as one of the dedicated agencies ‘to engender a deepened culture of volunteerism and social responsibility’. They often issue calls for volunteers to participate in the hosting of several events. Alternatively, simply visit https://www.un.org/en/observances/list-days-weeks to align your blocks of time with your passions. You can then partner with local social and/or corporate entities to contribute from your areas of expertise to help in building our Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
Friends, we do not need to wait for the next natural disaster to respond to the human need for providing food for everyone’s table. Rather, you can start small. Donate a tin to a community pantry and then enlist members of your networks/communities to do the same and before you know it, your efforts can birth a social movement to feed families in some of our most underserved communities. Finally, ignite your heart’s light! Join in activities that will not only improve your overall well-being but also facilitate human connections that ultimately redound to the benefit of all people.
Get in touch with any of the directors of the board of HRMATT to find out how you can volunteer. We thank you in advance for your service!
