A team from the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences recently used funding from The Academy’s Wellbeing Small Bids Fund to give practical support to the Kensington Fields Community Centre.
Gloria Latham, Head of the Education Directorate in HLS, applied to the fund with the intention of facilitating a team-building event for the Student Experience team based within the Directorate. The aim was to pull University staff together to support Kensington Fields Community Centre (KFCC), a local organisation which supports residents in an economically deprived area of Liverpool.
The Centre provides support to a number of different groups: pensioners, school children, students and local residents. As well as operating a food pantry, it also provides a social hub for the local residents, clubs for the elderly and a valued holiday play scheme for local primary school children. The work they do ensures that meals are provided to those that may otherwise go hungry.
KFCC were approached to ask what support the team could offer. Their response outlined that as they were approaching the Summer break, they wanted help to sort out the garden, so that it would be ready for the summer holiday play scheme. They had already bought fencing for the space with safeguarding in mind, but a general tidy was also required. KFCC asked the HLS team to help purchase a strimmer to tackle a specific area of the garden, and to allow them to keep up maintenance through Summer months. The full allowance of the fund was used for this purpose.
All 8 staff involved really enjoyed the day, and will be continuing to provide support to KFCC through on-going fundraising work.
When asked how the day went, staff members said:
“Of all the team building activities I’ve ever taken part in, this was my favourite. Getting out of the office and into the community with the team felt like we were doing ourselves some good, while at the same time helping a very good cause. It was good therapy to get hands on with an overgrown, litter strewn piece of land and transform it into a neat and cared for shrubbery. I learnt more about my colleagues working side by side with them while chatting than I ever have during our Teams or face to face meetings. I was inspired by the team at Kensington Fields and the work they do. A friendly and supportive team who are passionate about helping people of all ages connect and navigate tricky times together. An uplifting exercise and a terrific shared experience.”
“Thank you for organising, I for one really enjoyed the activity and would be happy to repeat or do another. I was worried about losing a day ‘in work’ but thought the benefit of the activity personally and as a team certainly outweighed any concern and was definitely well worth it.”
Gloria Latham commented:
“The opportunity to talk to colleagues outside of the work environment was great. We were able to learn a little more about each other – not many of us were gardeners for a start which provided its own challenge!"
To find out more about The Academy’s Wellbeing Small Bids Fund please contact theacademy@liverpool.ac.uk
Read more about Kensington Fields Community Association
