A team of CSL Behring colleagues in the United Kingdom volunteered to make a community center even more welcoming for the people it serves – a group that includes children, the elderly and, more recently, Ukrainian refugees.
Thirteen employees spent their first UK Community Day at Cherry Tree Centre, in Burgess Hill, with a long to-do list. Despite a rail strike and hot temperatures, they checked off the following:
- Clearing out a garage store full of rubbish and taking it to the local tip
- Painting a room which will become a community IT suite with computers the refugees and public can use for free
- Transforming the garden, which had become a jungle of overgrown trees, weeds and brambles
- Making macramé plant pot holders to decorate a feature wall at the center
Ukrainian refugees have been meeting their British host families at the center, which also serves a Carers Support group, the Age UK charity supporting older people, the Dementia Daybreak group, Escape Youth Club and the Kangaroos charity for disabled children. A Google review of the center says: “Never be lonely, give them a call.”
Mid Sussex Voluntary Action (MSVA) Chief Executive Gordon Ackroyd said the CSL Behring volunteers were “a five-star team.”
“It was such a pleasure to arrive at the center this morning, seeing it transformed,” he said.
Claire Sumpter, Volunteering and Communications Lead for MSVA, agreed.
“The team’s enthusiasm, cheerful energy and hard work has made an enormous difference to our community center space,” she said. “Their efforts will have a direct positive benefit to our center users, staff and groups that we support.”
