26.Feb.2009
Sparking Employee Volunteering
TimeBank, in partnership with T-Mobile, announce the launch of The Spark, a new initiative for sharing ideas that lead to practical solutions to combat social and environmental issues. The new initiative builds on the successful employee volunteering programme between TimeBank and T-Mobile, giving young people the chance to make positive changes in their communities using mobile technology.
The Spark will bring together groups of young people from across the UK who may not have considered volunteering before, and pair them up with T-Mobile employee volunteers. They will work together in workshop sessions to create innovative projects providing young people with new skills, confidence, support and the tools to turn their ideas into a reality.
Helen Walker, Chief Executive of TimeBank comments: ‘The Spark illustrates the power of employee volunteering and what can be achieved when people give up their time and inspire others. The Spark initiative involves and encourages young people to make positive changes in their communities by gaining new skills and learning how to create their own volunteering projects. TimeBank is committed to tackling social issues by finding ways for people to give their time.’
Every 12 weeks a new social or environmental issue will be selected to focus on. Fifteen different young people will attend workshops with T-Mobile employee volunteers to discuss real ways that mobile technology can make a difference. The young people learn how to take an idea and turn it in to a real project and will be invited to shadow the T-Mobile team building the application, giving them invaluable work experience in a corporate environment increasing their employability and encouraging them to run their own volunteering projects. Everyone can share their thoughts about the issues they really care about via The Spark website www.thespark.t-mobile.co.uk.
TimeBank and T-Mobile have already piloted The Spark, working with young people to develop a text-based anti-bullying project called TxtUp StandUp www.txtup.co.uk. It was created by young people for young people in conjunction with The Diana Award. TxtUp StandUp launches today and young people can start sharing advice and support on bullying immediately.
Allison Murray, Head of Corporate Responsibility at T-Mobile UK explains: “T-Mobile has been working hard over many years developing and implementing worthwhile corporate responsibility initiatives throughout all areas of the business. These have included a strong focus on keeping children safe when using mobiles, employee volunteering and getting the nation recycling their old mobiles. However, we’re keen to provide an opportunity for people to interact with us directly and share their views on what we should be doing.”
TimeBank and T-Mobile are taking employee volunteering to the next level and showing what can be achieved by people giving up their time to inspire others. TimeBank are dedicated to finding ways for people to give their time in a way that matches their lives that will motivate and enthuse.
For more information on volunteering and how to get involved visit www.timebank.org.uk. For more press information please contact jdische@timebank.org.uk / 0207 785 6440
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Notes to editors
About The Spark
Launched in 2009, The Spark is part of T-Mobile’s corporate responsibility programme and aims to apply the potential of mobile communications to the social and environmental issues we all care about. Everyone can share their thoughts on the issues and the mobile applications that could be developed by visiting the website: www.thespark.t-mobile.co.uk.
The Spark in numbers…
- Launch up to 4 new mobile applications every year that make a difference for a social or environmental issue that matters to us all
- Bring together anyone who’s interested on The Spark website to share ideas to help us develop the mobile apps
- Directly involve up to 60 young people in the locations where T-Mobile operates and help them gain experience for future career or educational opportunities
- Create up to 60 new volunteering projects that will help address an issue in the communities where T-Mobile operates
- Up to 40 T-Mobile staff will be directly involved with inspiring change by sharing their ideas, experiences and skills with young people
Contacts:
T-Mobile Press Line +44 (0) 7017 150 150
Brands2Life +44 (0) 207 592 1200
About T-Mobile UK
T-Mobile is one of the world’s largest mobile operators with more than 126.6 million customers worldwide and is the service provider of choice for 16.8 million customers in the UK, making it one of the largest networks.
T-Mobile has a range of innovative products and services, such as Solo, the SIM only option offering market-leading minutes and texts (at £30 per month) on a 30-day rolling contract; Combi, our best package deal; Flext, a unique tariff with a flexible allowance; U-Fix, a tariff that combines pay-as-you-go and a minimum term contract, and web'n'walk, which enables customers to surf the internet on the move. Competitive high-speed Mobile Broadband tariffs include access to the largest worldwide Wi-Fi network, with more than 1,000 HotSpots in convenient locations in the UK and 27,000 worldwide. Network coverage is among the best in the UK at over 99 per cent of the UK population. T-Mobile operates an advanced 3G HSDPA-enabled network capable of supporting effective mobile broadband speeds of up 4.5Mbps and is the first UK operator to provide a nationwide HSUPA capability for faster uploads.
For more information about T-Mobile UK, please visit www.t-mobile.co.uk
TimeBank
TimeBank tackles social issues by finding ways for people to give their time that inspire them and match their lives. We know it’s a lot to ask people to give up their time and so we are committed to finding ways that suit how people live and that addresses the needs of the world we live in. Registered charity no. 1073831.
For more information about TimeBank, please visit www.timebank.org.uk
About the Diana Award
The Diana Award was set up by the Government’s Memorial Committee in 1999, and gives recognition to young people aged between 12 and 18, who both make outstanding and selfless contributions to their communities and also demonstrate the qualities associated with Diana Princess of Wales. 2009 marks the 10th Anniversary year of the Diana Award, and the award challenges stereotypes of young people by showing that Award Holders have the power to be positive role models for an entire generation. The Diana Anti-Bullying Award was established in partnership with the Anti-Bullying Alliance It acts as a prestigious beacon of good practice and courage for our 10,000 Diana Anti-Bullying Award Holders across the UK.
For more information on the Diana Award or to make a nomination please visit www.diana-award.org.uk.