Virgin Media Volunteers Sprint to Support YSI Teams

Virgin Media staff raced to volunteer recently at a YSI Social Innovation Sprint organised as part of A Very Virign Volunteer Week. During the event, hosted online, more than twenty Virgin Media volunteers from across the business put their skills and creative thinking to use to help three YSI teams advance their innovative ideas to create change in their communities.

  
Virgin Media volunteers ready to sprint into action to generate ideas for YSI teams during a Social Innovation Sprint facilitated by YSI as part of A Very Virgin Volunteer Week.

Following an invite to YSI participants to submit a challenge that Virgin Media volunteers could help with, three teams were chosen: 

‘Abbey Awareness Week’ from Abbey Community School, Waterford aims to spread awareness in their school community about online safety, including  personal safety on social media,  the spread of misinformation and fake news, and internet frauds. 

‘If There is a Wheel, There is a Way’  from St. Leo’s College, Carlow wants to improve wheelchair accessibility in public transport, shops, cafes, restaurants and workplaces in their local area. In order to do this they plan to create a smartphone and smartwatch app to map wheelchair accessible public buildings in Carlow town. The team also wants to spread awareness about wheelchair accessibility through an awareness campaign. 

‘Tallaght Talks’ from Old Bawn Community School, Dublin has a mission to discuss social issues and portray Tallaght in a positive light through recorded interviews with locals. Their series of interviews called ‘Tallaght Talks’ will feature inspirational people from Tallaght. 

All three teams benefitted from professional expertise and advice by Virgin Media employees who presented their ideas back to the teams live online following the sprint session.

The YSI Social Innovation Sprint Event was a truly wonderful experience. The three teams had inspiring and innovative ideas to share with us and as a Virgin Media volunteer, I was able to use my skills in my area of marketing to input into all three projects. I also learned a lot from working with my fellow colleagues/volunteers who used their years of experience in the areas of Marketing, Finance, Social Media, Legal, TV and more to offer practical advice on next steps for the teams in question. Overall, it was a day full of social innovation, and fun! Thank you so much to YSI, to the teams and to our brilliant volunteers.