{"id":14747,"date":"2025-06-19T08:06:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T08:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?p=14747"},"modified":"2025-06-19T08:14:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T08:14:34","slug":"time-to-make-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Time To Make a Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Inspired by Volunteers’ Week, we’re sharing how one University staff member has made an impact in two very different ways, with her experiences showing just how much a few hours can achieve.<\/span><\/p>\n

The University of Reading is committed to engaging with our local community and supporting volunteering by offering staff two days of paid leave to volunteer for a charity, organisation or \u00a0community project of their choice. Joy Collier, Head of Academic Development and Enhancement at the University, shared her volunteering story with CONNECTED.<\/p>\n

\"TheFor Joy, the University’s volunteering leave policy<\/a> has made a real difference. She said: \u201cVolunteering has always been important to me as I like to give back to the community when possible. As well as supporting amazing charities I also find it really rewarding to make connections and meet people from many different walks of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve volunteered for Thames Hospice for a couple of years now as a retail assistant in their Woodley store, receiving and sorting donations, arranging and displaying clothes and helping customers. This is something I’ve always done in my own time.<\/p>\n

\u201cVolunteering leave has made volunteering much more accessible and attainable. I think the University\u2019s policy encouraged me to think about volunteering differently \u2013 to consider it in the mix of all the other priorities I have at work and make sure it doesn’t always fall to the bottom of the list.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt’s also made me realise that a couple of hours of time can go a really long way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sharing Christmas joy<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Joy, along with a number of her colleagues, hosted a Christmas wrapping station on behalf of Rainbow Trust<\/a>, the\u00a0University’s 2024\/25 Charity of the Year<\/a>. The volunteers helped Basingstoke shoppers wrap up their Christmas presents and raise money for an excellent cause at the same time.<\/p>\n

\"VolunteersJoy said: \u201cChristmas seemed like the perfect time to give something back as a team. Everyone was passionate about the cause and the chance to do something completely different together for a few hours, and learn some new skills, was great.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe interacted with plenty of shoppers throughout the day, many of whom wanted to know more about Rainbow Trust and were very happy to donate. We were really touched by people\u2019s generosity.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe all came away with a spring in our step, feeling like we’d done something really worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/h4>\n

A privilege<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In addition to her work with Rainbow Trust, Joy also used her volunteering hours to run mock interviews with Year 11 students at Reading Girls\u2019 School where she provided advice on interview techniques. The experience was transformative for both Joy and the students.<\/p>\n

Joy said: \u201cThe school contacts local employers each year to request help with their mock interviews so I was very happy to put myself forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a privilege to be able to help the students identify their strengths as well as areas for development. We looked at how to approach an interview with confidence and conviction.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think I learned as much from them as they did from me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A representative from the school said: \u201cIt was a wonderful opportunity for the pupils to practice their skills with an expert and get feedback on points they could improve. The girls went in looking very nervous but came out with smiles on their faces and all found the experience very worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Volunteering Opportunities<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Joy\u2019s advice for getting into volunteering is to \u201cstart small and look for something that fits with your lifestyle and interests. Once you take that first step your confidence will grow and other opportunities will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you are interested in volunteering, or would like to share your own volunteering stories, please email alumni@reading.ac.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We currently have a fantastic volunteering opportunity for those in the local area, supporting Rainbow Trust\u2019s Adventure Trail<\/a> on Whiteknights Campus on Sunday 29 June 2025<\/strong>. If you could help on the day or would like to find out more, please email CharityOfTheYear@reading.ac.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inspired by Volunteers’ Week, we’re sharing how one University staff member has made an impact in two very different ways, with her experiences showing just how much a few hours can achieve. The University of Reading is committed to engaging with our local community and supporting volunteering by offering staff two days of paid leave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":14751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[183,123,220,201,64,27,47],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTime To Make a Difference - Connected<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Inspired by Volunteers' Week, we're sharing how one University staff member has made an impact in two very different ways.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Time To Make a Difference - Connected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Inspired by Volunteers' Week, we're sharing how one University staff member has made an impact in two very different ways.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Connected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-19T08:06:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-19T08:14:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/06\/Joy-volunteer-story-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"juliasmalley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"juliasmalley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/\",\"name\":\"Time To Make a Difference - Connected\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-19T08:06:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-19T08:14:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#\/schema\/person\/c5ee593fd48cf9c8d82a6471170664fb\"},\"description\":\"Inspired by Volunteers' Week, we're sharing how one University staff member has made an impact in two very different ways.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Time To Make a Difference\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/\",\"name\":\"Connected\",\"description\":\"Alumni magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#\/schema\/person\/c5ee593fd48cf9c8d82a6471170664fb\",\"name\":\"juliasmalley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/738c52c5a19d4553b07ee6a8cc541ab7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/738c52c5a19d4553b07ee6a8cc541ab7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"juliasmalley\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/author\/juliasmalley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Time To Make a Difference - Connected","description":"Inspired by Volunteers' Week, we're sharing how one University staff member has made an impact in two very different ways.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Time To Make a Difference - Connected","og_description":"Inspired by Volunteers' Week, we're sharing how one University staff member has made an impact in two very different ways.","og_url":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/","og_site_name":"Connected","article_published_time":"2025-06-19T08:06:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-19T08:14:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":550,"url":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/06\/Joy-volunteer-story-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"juliasmalley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"juliasmalley","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/","name":"Time To Make a Difference - Connected","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-19T08:06:13+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-19T08:14:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#\/schema\/person\/c5ee593fd48cf9c8d82a6471170664fb"},"description":"Inspired by Volunteers' Week, we're sharing how one University staff member has made an impact in two very different ways.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/06\/19\/time-to-make-a-difference\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Time To Make a Difference"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/","name":"Connected","description":"Alumni magazine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#\/schema\/person\/c5ee593fd48cf9c8d82a6471170664fb","name":"juliasmalley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/738c52c5a19d4553b07ee6a8cc541ab7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/738c52c5a19d4553b07ee6a8cc541ab7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"juliasmalley"},"url":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/author\/juliasmalley\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14747"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14792,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14747\/revisions\/14792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}