Thank you to these amazing groups who have volunteered with us in the past 12 months. We genuinely couldn’t do it without you, we have limited resources to keep the grounds and the buildings safe and engaging for the young people that call this site home, you have made a real tangible difference that we wouldn’t have been able to provide on our own.

Microsoft

Removing old cladding and re-cladding our future orchard building

Microsoft got involved in creating a new vocational work stream aimed at our young adults and upper school. They removed all the worn-out cladding on an old barn building, removing layers of planks, nails, windows, and doors and then prepped the building for re cladding. The space will be used to house our juicing equipment when our orchard apples are ready to be picked and turned into apple juice, thus giving the young people access to a new skill that could enable them to enter the world of work when they leave us. The team at Microsoft were inspired by the work opportunities provided at Prior’s Court and on top of donating their time, they also very kindly donated to us to keep the important work going.

 

Visa

Summerhill Garden renovations, laying soil, tarmac and installing swing

An amazing team from Visa, that also included a parent of one of the young people who lives at Prior’s Court, gave us a huge boost in renovating a residential home garden, which was all about improving the safety and wellbeing of the young people living there. One of the young boys in this home has a condition called Pica which compels him to eat non-edible substances such as the stones in the garden. Visa laid the groundwork by moving 6 tonnes of type 1 base layer to re level the garden, and found the time to build a swing base for one young person who loves to swing, but often kicks up the mud. Visa employees have access to an amazing scheme where they can donate to a charity of their choice for each hour they spend volunteering, and in this case, the company doubled the donations since it was ‘Giving Tuesday’.

 

BNP Paribas

Painting and weeding the pet therapy paddock, clearing the pig pen, and weeding the orchard

BNP Paribas were not messing around, when they say they came to work, they meant it! On one of the hottest days of summer, a 30 strong team stormed through our horticultural and animal therapy areas, painting and weeding our pet therapy paddock, weeding our 180 tree apple orchard and even getting IN with our pigs Patch and Pippin to tidy up their pen and make it cleaner and more accessible to the young people accessing our animal therapy and animal husbandry skills programme. Their help in upkeeping these areas means our dedicated job coaches and vocational teachers can spend less time preparing their areas and more time one on one with the young people, teaching them and giving them the opportunities that will set them up for the most independent life possible, that they wouldn’t have without our amazing volunteers.

Learn more about Corporate Volunteering at Prior's Court