Celebrating International Volunteers Day

Aico in the Community is built on a five-pillar approach to sustainability: Workplace, Marketplace, Community, Environment, and Governance. Within this framework, volunteering plays a central role and reflects our long-standing commitment to supporting our communities.

In celebration of International Volunteers Day, we’re looking back at the impact our colleagues made throughout 2025 and sharing our continued plans for 2026.

Who We Support

Each year, our colleagues are allocated dedicated volunteering hours to spend supporting causes they care about. Since launching this initiative in 2018, colleagues have collectively volunteered 8,715 hours. We’re proud to collaborate with a mix of long-standing partners and new organisations across Shropshire and the wider UK.

Throughout 2025, Aico volunteers contributed their time and skills to a diverse range of causes, charities and community projects, including:

• Schools
• Foodbanks
• Community gardens
• Children’s charities
• Rehabilitation charities
• Housing groups and councils
• Community centres

These partnerships not only strengthen our communities but also align with our mission to create positive and lasting social value.

We are fortunate to have developed long-term partnerships with several incredible Shropshire-based organisations, including:

• Little Stars supports children and families in need across Shropshire since 2020. During our partnership, Aico have helped Little Stars by providing storage space at our headquarters, donating Christmas gifts for local children, and volunteering to collect and distribute essential supplies.
• OsNosh is a community kitchen and garden that uses surplus food from local supermarkets to feed local vulnerable people. Our colleagues regularly volunteer to collect food donations, prepare and serve meals in the OsNosh kitchen.
• Willowdene supports men and women facing complex challenges, helping them to transform their lives with the support of rehabilitation activities and training to support future careers. Our colleagues have been proud to assist with a range of tasks, mainly involving the upkeep of their farmland and rehabilitation workshops, and the opening of their family assessment centre.

However, our volunteering scheme extends far beyond Shropshire. Colleagues who work regionally across the UK or in our office in Bristol also take part in meaningful volunteer opportunities within their own communities, ensuring our impact is felt all over the UK.

How We Support

We provide colleagues with the opportunities to get involved with a wide range of volunteering activities to suit individual interests and skills. These can include:

• Gardening and outdoor transformations
• Collecting food donations and preparing meals
• Painting sheds, fences, railings, and garden furniture
• Clearing, painting, and decorating indoor spaces
• Collecting and packing donations
• Wrapping gifts for children
• Supporting youth associations with trips and kids’ club
• Assisting schools with educational activities and workshops

Project SOS is our annual initiative in which colleagues dedicate a full week to delivering one large-scale project that creates a lasting community impact.

For 2025, Project SOS was delivered at Woodside Primary School. Over the course of the week, 22 Aico colleagues transformed the school’s outdoor spaces, carrying out extensive weeding, trimming hedges and bushes, repainting benches and sheds, and refreshing tired areas to create a brighter, more welcoming environment. They also enhanced outdoor reading and play spaces, ensuring pupils return to a safe and inviting school in September.

Project SOS has also previously supported Oswestry Memorial Hall and Longden Primary School.

Colleague Participation

Without the participation and enthusiasm of our colleagues, our volunteer programme would not have grown to the success it is today. Here’s what some of them had to say:

Becci Cumblidge, Management Accountant at Aico, commented on her day volunteering at the Shropshire Union Canal Society. “My day with the Shropshire Union Canal Society was slightly different to our usual volunteering days. It was great to be part of a project which I have seen develop over the years. The project managers and volunteers were a great bunch and were very invested in the restoration of the canal. As a team, we cleared a section of the tow path ready for the hedge to be traditionally re-laid, which the volunteers will be completing over the next few months. Anyone can volunteer with the team during their monthly volunteer days, with us being invited back to learn how to traditionally lay a hedge and learn new skills”

Tristan Potkins, Relationship Manager of London North, commented on his day volunteering for OsNosh. “I volunteered at OsNosh earlier this year and was really humbled by the hard work that goes on there. I spent the morning collecting the donations from four different local supermarkets and then helped sort them into the storeroom. In the morning, people were coming in for tea and coffee before lunch started around midday, which I served with a smile! I was surprised just how busy it was, but not by how friendly, compassionate and welcoming everyone that volunteered there was”.

Plans for 2026

The theme for this year’s International Volunteers Day is Every Contribution Matters:  a reminder that every volunteer hour from our colleagues helps create the wider community impact we strive for.

As we look ahead to 2026, we’re eager to build new partnerships with charities and organisations across Shropshire and beyond. If you know of a group that could benefit from volunteer support, we’d be delighted to hear from you. Get in touch to explore how we can make a difference together by emailing sustainability@aico.co.uk