#StrongerTogether with Dee O’Toole, KBC Volunteer

Dee O’Toole is a Team Leader and works at KBC, as part of the #StrongerTogether campaign, Dee shares her experience and thoughts on volunteering.

KBC is one of the companies participating in the Business Impact Map and the #strongertogether campaign.The interactive map launched today showcases what companies are doing for their local communities across the country and also shows the collective impact of the network. As we unveil the impact achieved by the participating companies in 2017 we take the opportunity to hear from the volunteers that make this impact a reality.

Tell us about your volunteering experience..

I volunteered for the Junior Achievement programme in 2017 on two different half day sessions as a part of the Make Maths Matter module.

Why did you decide to take part and volunteer?

I had always liked the idea of taking part in the Junior Achievement programme but lacked the confidence to stand up in front of a full class room of children. What encouraged me to get involved in this module was that the children were split into smaller more manageable groups and that there were a number of KBC staff members coming together to work as a team.

What did you enjoy from the experience?

I enjoyed this experience more than I expected to. The children were really pleasant and eager to learn. The children were aged from approximately age 9 to 11 so their maths skills varied but the games and activities that we hosted with them seemed to be real crowd pleasers and the children really got involved. The sports-related session was the highlight for a lot of the children who seemed to really enjoy this different way of learning about maths.

What would you say to a colleague who hasn’t volunteered before to encourage him/her to give it a go?

I would definitely recommend a colleague to try one of these half day sessions as a starting point if they weren’t sure about whether they’d like to take part or not or if they were feeling nervous about it. This was a nice way to ease into it to make you see that we can all be of benefit in the Junior Achievement programme.

How important is it to you that the company you work for shares your values and facilitates you to undertake volunteering activities as part of your role?

I think KBCI’s involvement in our community is vital and from my experience, the people on the receiving end are very appreciative of our investment be it a financial one or an investment of our time.

Visit the Business Impact Map to see the impact that KBC employees have made in 2017.

Find out more about CSR and Sustainability at KBC.

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