John Ruskin College Social Responsibility Day

Date: 20 July 2022

On Friday 01 July, staff members from across the Orbital South Colleges Group comprising John Ruskin College, East Surrey College, and Reigate School of Art, took part in the annual Social Responsibility day – a chance to share our time, skills and expertise with local groups and charities.

Staff headed out either individually or in teams into their neighbourhoods and beyond to give their support through a diverse range of volunteering activities – from sorting clothes and toiletries for refugees and homeless people to enhancing a dementia-friendly garden, and sprucing up public spaces and gardens in charity centres to sharing expertise with other educational institutes.

Hear more about who our staff at JRC helped and what they got up to below:

Supporting Asylum Seekers
John Ruskin staff spent the morning volunteering in the Croydon Refugee Day Centre which offers practical support to all asylum seekers including an information service, clothes and shoes for all ages, toiletries and household goods, food parcels, and access to a Family Education Project and language classes.

Here, they were divided into pairs and small groups and given various tasks including sorting and labelling clothes, shoes and other items for babies, children and adults who are either asylum seekers or refugees.

Enhancing a Walled Garden
After completing these tasks, the team made their way to the Walled Garden in Park Hill Park, a 15 acre park near the centre of Croydon which is owned by Croydon Council but maintained mostly by local volunteers.

For the remainder of the day, they helped with weeding, watering, cultivating soil and general sweeping and tidying up of the garden. Luckily the sun shone throughout!

John Ruskin staff gardening in Park Hill Park

Tidying the Streets of Croydon
Meanwhile, another team of John Ruskin staff took to the streets of Croydon to do a mass litter pick. The size of the group resulted in many roads looking a lot more ship shape!