A total of 13,600 people volunteered in CaixaBank's Social Month, the initiative run by the bank throughout May to encourage employees and their families, together with customers and anyone else interested, to volunteer to support social organisations throughout Spain. A total of 118,000 people in vulnerable situations participated in the initiatives carried out, which ranged from care for vulnerable groups, to activities related to fostering culture, education, sport and care for the environment, among other causes.
The Chief Executive Officer of CaixaBank, Gonzalo Gortazar, praised the good mobilisation figures of the CaixaBank volunteers: "We are grateful for the involvement of all the people who have taken part in Social Month and of the volunteers who have once again proved their high level of social commitment. This initiative provides an opportunity to support various social organisations throughout Spain and, with everyone's collaboration, to help the most vulnerable groups. Volunteering work is highly enriching for the participants and, above all, for the volunteers themselves".
Throughout Social Month, CaixaBank held 2,300 volunteering activities in partnership with 1,000 social organisations throughout Spain. Participants were able to gain first-hand experience of the benefits of volunteering, in addition to learning about the different, and often distant, lives of people in situations of vulnerability and at risk of exclusion.
Social Month also provided an opportunity to strengthen the bond between CaixaBank Volunteering and local entities and organisations. Publicity through the bank's communication channels and the volunteers participating in Social Month has helped to raise the profile of the work of local associations.
Activities all over Spain
Among the broad range of activities undertaken, CaixaBank volunteers in Bilbao held a workshop with members of the Vizcaya Association of Relatives and People with Mental Illness (AVIFES), enabling them to express their lives, challenges and concerns through writing.
CaixaBank volunteers in the Canary Islands and the ADESPI Association, the goal of which is to foster the social and occupational inclusion of people with disabilities, ran a treasure hunt to show people with disabilities around the neighbourhood of Vegueta (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria). To promote inclusion, volunteers in Tarragona organised the Caminada de Primavera per l'Autisme, an initiative promoted by Tarragona Esports in which 600 people took part in a walk in support of people with autism.
In terms of the environment, close to a hundred CaixaBank volunteers in Galicia carried out reforestation activities in the mountains of Cerdedo-Cotobade (Pontevedra), Carballiño (Ourense), A Baña (Lugo) and Begonte (Lugo). Meanwhile, around 400 volunteers in Andalusia and their families took part in several beach cleaning activities in various places along the Andalusian coastline.
A large number of actions focusing on poverty were also carried out. One of the most moving initiatives took place in the Canary Islands, where CaixaBank volunteers, in partnership with the José Luis Montesinos Foundation of the Canary Islands, which offers food aid to people living in poverty, harvested the crops they sowed during the 2022 Social Week and distributed them to the foundation's users.
Together with Cáritas Villarreal, the volunteers cooked and distributed food to cover the basic needs of people at risk of poverty. Similarly, and in partnership with the Deixalles Foundation, the volunteers collected and distributed clothes to vulnerable people living in the Balearic Islands.
There was a key role for sport and the values of effort, self-improvement and teamwork during Social Month. One of the most outstanding activities was organised by the volunteers in Castilla-La Mancha, in conjunction with the inclusive canoeing organisation, Toletum Kayak, which enabled members of the Paideia Association in Toledo to enjoy a kayaking trip on the Tagus River.
But the contribution of sport has crossed borders. Volunteers in Murcia, in partnership with El Pozo Murcia, held an event where 60 refugee children from the NGO ACCEM enjoyed a training session with some of the world's best futsal players. Another highlight was the '1st Charity Walk for the Inclusion of Young People' in Zizur Mayor (Navarre), where upwards of a hundred participants enjoyed a day of sport and leisure.
Education and culture, the cornerstones of the CaixaBank Volunteering programme, were the backbone of a great number of activities. Among these, it is worth highlighting the visit to the Tutankhamun exhibition at Matadero Madrid, which the volunteers organised with people with disabilities from the Juan XXIII Foundation, and the reading support and tutoring activities carried out throughout Spain.
CaixaBank volunteering
CaixaBank Volunteering is one of Spain's largest volunteering initiatives. Having more than 18 years of experience, the association comprises employees and former employees of CaixaBank Group and "la Caixa" Foundation, as well as friends, family members, customers and all those who want to take part in charity activities.
Over the past year, close to 14,000 volunteers have helped more than 482,000 vulnerable people throughout Spain, thanks to the joint work with 1,991 social entities, through activities related to the likes of education, digitalisation, accompaniment of vulnerable people and the environment.
Fostering corporate volunteering is one of CaixaBank's lines of action. For the bank, this is a way of helping to respond to the challenges faced by society, while simultaneously offering services and solutions for social entities and people at risk of vulnerability, through its financial activity.
