For Westpac Fiji Community Volunteer Day is a leave day that all its staff members are entitled to giving them time to get involved and support a community group of their choice or be part of an activity organised by the bank.
According to the bank this amounts to more than 4400 hours of volunteer support to the communities annually.
“When the community does well, we all do well,” said Westpac Fiji chief executive officer Shane Smith.
“As a bank that continuously strives to give back, relationships are at the heart of everything we do. Relationships between our employees, our customers and the local community are built by working together toward common goals, identifying and responding to needs along the way,” said Mr Smith.
According to a press release from Westpac a team from the bank volunteered at the Horse Sanctuary – Rescue & Rehabilitation located in Navua, as part of their annual Community Volunteer Day.
The team fed and groomed the horses and also gave essential items such as cottonwool, Dettol, Savlon antiseptic cream for the animals, including helping to clean and tidy up the store room where equipment for the horses are kept.
It said earlier this year, 72 volunteering from the Central Division in partnership with the Ministry of Fisheries participated in planting seaweed in Kumi Village, Verata, Tailevu.
According to the bank the team helped revive the seaweed farm in the village, which had been shut down because of the pandemic.
Apart from positively impacting the marine life and biodiversity, the seaweed is managed by the women of Kumi Village and is a source of income and their livelihood.
In another recent project involving the Regional Projects team, school stationery, computers and toys were provided to 81 students who attend Nukui Village school, remotely located on the Rewa seawide.
Since the completion of the project, the Regional Projects Team have adopted the village school and will provide on-going support, with plans to help improve the school facilities.
