Do you want to do something helpful and productive for asylum seekers and refugees in our University and local community but don’t know where to start?

Join Kent’s new Sanctuary Collective, meet other staff members from across the university, and help us drive the Sanctuary programme forward.

The projects within the Sanctuary Programme at Kent are varied and so all kinds of skills and availability are welcome to take on remote tasks and on campus tasks.

Initiatives that might benefit from staff volunteering input include: 

• Helping to welcome and give guided campus tours to visitors such as those seeking asylum housed in the local area, groups of unaccompanied migrants, cohorts from our Ukraine twinning programme;
• English conversation/ social groups online;
• Communications and events support for fundraising events;
• Volunteering with Sanctuary-themed library archive projects;
• Organising and promoting clothing donation drives;
• Collaboration with student volunteers and groups such as STAR (Student Action for Refugees);
• Collaboration with nearby charitable organisations supporting those seeking Sanctuary in our community

This list is just the beginning! Together as Kent staff, we will continue to identify and embrace new opportunities and initiatives that we can meaningfully address as a collective.

Be a part of the University’s civic mission in your paid Kent volunteering hours, and spend some time in your working life doing something that has a real practical impact on a part of our society that’s often overlooked or even stigmatised.

Grow your transferable skills and contacts as you meet people from across the university and work together on projects that give you another perspective, as you share and gain knowledge with colleagues about civic mission, philanthropy, events and communications.

In agreement with your line manager, you can use your staff volunteering hours to do this meaningful socially useful work as part of the 25 hours’ of volunteering time you get per year (pro-rata for part-time staff.) More information on volunteering and how to record your volunteering hours can be found on the People and Culture SharePoint site.

Join our sympa mailing list via our online form to be invited to meetings and activities, and a Teams chat to share ideas. Together we can make a difference.