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Hotelbeds launches Covid-19 volunteer programme
Bed bank Hotelbeds is encouraging its global workforce to sign up for volunteering opportunities with the launch of a new online programmeto help those most affected by Covid-19.
It includes more than 30 volunteering opportunities such as helping the elderly, entertaining children and sharing skills with non-government organisatins.
Examples of activities already carried out include telephone calls and letters to Covid-19 patients in hospital, supporting food aid charity Mallorca sense Fam to translate its annual report from Spanish to English and guiding blind users from Be my Eyes, a free app that connects blind and low-vision people to sighted volunteers through a video call.
The new online program started last week and temporarily replaces the in-person Hotelbeds volunteering activities that have been cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19.
Teresa Laso, head of corporate sustainability, said: "Giving back to our community has always been at the core of Hotelbeds’ culture and we are needed now more than ever before.
"With so many inspiring examples of remote working and communities embracing digital methods to bring people together as a result of Covid-19, we were determined to find a way to shift our existing Corporate Volunteer Program into the virtual sphere during this period.
"The current activities have been chosen because they are very well suited to the technological requirements needed, but also because they are focused on the new needs of many out there due to Covid-19 – for example helping to entertain children whose school is closed but their parents are still working, or elderly people who are unable to receive visitors in person currently."
The Hotelbeds Corporate Volunteering program was launched two years ago across the main company offices worldwide, including its headquarters in Palma, Mallorca, plus offices in London, Orlando, Singapore, Bangkok, Cancun, Dubai, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, New Delhi and Zurich.
Since then, two-thirds of employees worldwide have participated in around 350 volunteering activities.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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