Carrier staff support elderly in charity initiative

Staff at luxury tour operator Carrier have been volunteering their time to support charity Re-engage. 

Furloughed staff have been helping the charity by volunteering as 'call companions' and engaging with those who are elderly, isolated and lonely.

Carrier’s managing director Mark Duguid said his team had “thought hard” about how to help during the crisis. 

Posting on Twitter about the partnership, he said: “We thought hard at Carrier Holidays about how to not only look after our team and clients during this crisis but also how to give back to our community. With no factory to re-purpose for face mask or sanitiser production, we used our greatest asset: our people.

“We partnered with the fabulous charity Re-engage, volunteering as call companions and reaching out to the isolated and lonely. So it’s with pleasure that we’ll make a donation for every booking in our Blue Skies Ahead campaign to help being companionship to the elderly.”

Reengage needed call companions for people aged over 75, and they also required help vetting the thousands of applicants who applied to help. Carrier’s team helped with the applications and have been recruited and trained to conduct interviews of those who have applied.

In a statement, Carrier said: “We plan to continue helping our elderly community, because a good chat really does mean the world.”

Zoe Coulton, one of the team members who has been volunteering, said: “It’s been so rewarding being able to help Re-engage. We don’t have a factory to produce things, but our strength is the people who work at Carrier and those on furlough could offer their time. 

“We’ve also been fundraising and through a raffle we made £111. We’ve got more fundraising planned in the future too.

“It’s great to support those feeling lonely or isolated during these times, but we also have a long-term plan to work with the charity.”

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