"Cleaning Newport: Where Business Meets Community"

"Photos: Kamila J Photography "

GAVO supported Newport Girlguiding with their Keep Wales Tidy ‘Big Spring Clean’ campaign by matching the group with corporate giants Microsoft who were visiting Wales for an international conference. Corporate volunteering can help community groups by adding capacity or bridging skills gaps by sharing their expertise and knowledge. GAVO helped Newport Girlguiding by arranging the additional people power needed to clean up Newport International Sports Village (NISV) to make it a much cleaner place to visit.

Re:Make Newport and Keep Wales Tidy supplied litter pickers, bags and gloves; and expertise was provided by Matt Selwood from Keep Wales Tidy about health and safety considerations which was instrumental in keeping everyone safe during the event.

GAVO worked collaboratively with the groups, and it was fantastic to see the strength that exists in the third sector across Newport with all groups supporting one another to benefit the community.

In total, 57 Brownies, Guides, Rangers and Leaders along with the American volunteers collected 23 full bags of rubbish from the site, and volunteers of all ages pitched in to help make NISV a cleaner place to visit. Plastic bottles, cans, crisp packets, cardboard, paper, cigarette butts and other rubbish were cleared from car parks, grass verges, the edges of reens and outside the sports venues and surrounding areas.

The ‘Big Spring Clean’ got off to a flying start and relationships were formed amongst the groups and the team from Microsoft engaged in a quality volunteering experience that brought their team together to help the local environment.

Dawn Clayton – County Commissioner, Newport Girlguiding

“Sam Sims from GAVO was fantastic in third party communications between Girlguiding and Microsoft. He was instrumental in me being able to source the equipment we required from the different partners and he also arranged for a member of Keep Wales Tidy to give a safety briefing.”

“Partnerships made during this event have had a great impact on Girlguiding and future events are planned with our new friends … it’s a Win: Win for all involved”

Marisa Matthews - Program Manager at Microsoft Azure Data

“This was an amazing opportunity to not only help a community and a community group, but also an ability to connect with co-workers in a way that might not happen organically.”

Sam Sims - GAVO Volunteering Officer (Newport)

"It was a pleasure to help coordinate this initiative, bringing together a range of partners united by a shared commitment to supporting our local environment—a cause we are all deeply passionate about.

It’s inspiring to see a major international corporation with a base here in Newport dedicating time and staff to support the local community. Their involvement sets a powerful example of what can be achieved when businesses and community organisations work together.

If you're a charity, community group, or not-for-profit interested in exploring corporate volunteering opportunities, we’d love to hear from you."

Email Sam