The collective effort that moves mountains

Cellnex workers in the Volunteers project work to alleviate needs and raise awareness among the public at large.

Volunteering at Cellnex is a long-distance race. Although we perform specific actions, there is one that is ongoing, uniform and silent. Any employees who so wish make a financial contribution each month from their payroll, and every two years all the money collected supports a solidarity project selected from a list proposed by the company’s own workers. Presenting these candidatures is not based on a simple proposal but involves submitting a technical and economic report of the project, which must correspond to a recognised and reliable association. This project, which was born in 2010 with the name “Euro Solidario”, reaches 2023 as “Solidary Gift”, evidencing the international character that the company has achieved since 2015, with Cellnex supporting it by doubling the amount raised collectively.

A total of five projects have received a donation from the “Solidary Gift” project since it began in 2010

Cati Vacas, People Project Manager at Cellnex Spain and one of the first “volunteers” tells us about the initial steps of the project: “In a team-building activity, colleagues who were already taking part in volunteer work in various associations met and decided to launch a common project within the company. We were fortunate that the then Director of Resources had a bigger vision and brought this to the company, which supported us from the outset.”

Collecting, storing and distributing toys for foster homes has been one of the projects that is dearest to our hearts for some years now. In the same way, and with the same enthusiasm, tonnes of food have been collected by the same hands that previously handled the toys. The collection campaigns organised by the Food Bank are also assisted by many committed colleagues at Cellnex.

“We have always managed this global food collection initiative from a local perspective, involving colleagues from the various countries and areas to channel aid to the organisations closest to them,” says Vacas.

Cellnex Volunteers 2.0

The Volunteers project continues to play an active role today. Indeed, International Volunteer Day was a particularly busy date at the company because of the participation of several countries and the importance of the activities carried out thanks to the Cellnex Foundation.

Solidarity workshops, training sessions and talks were all held, which underscored the importance of the voluntary network in achieving a more just society.

One action that crystallised this spirit was the talk given by Álvaro Vizcaíno to the entire group. His experience as a survivor in an extreme situation in which motivation and trust undoubtedly saved his life provides an interesting point of view in an ever-changing world in which adaptability and self-knowledge are vital.

Achieving the social inclusion of vulnerable groups using technology is one of the pillars of the Cellnex Foundation and is the aim of several of its programmes. Various workshops with this leitmotif were held, such as the one organised by United Way, an organisation that works hand in hand with the Cellnex Foundation and is aimed at people with functional disabilities, who were able to start using robots in a fun and tailored way.

Beyond the borders

Cellnex’s European footprint has allowed it to extend the volunteering project to several other countries, and this year Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Poland also organised activities on International Volunteering Day.

Education and inclusion of young people is a fundamental plank of volunteer activity at Cellnex. For example, France addressed Diversity while Cellnex Poland received students from a special needs school and young people from a school in Scotland received a talk on the “Smart city” concept.

In Italy, the volunteers visited the Città dei Ragazzi Institute in Rome, a residential community that can accommodate almost 50 children of different nationalities, in situations of socioeconomic difficulty.

“We had the opportunity to meet about ten young people. These kids arrived in Italy on boats, enduring many hardships to reach Europe and their dream of finding a job and leaving behind poverty in their place of origin” says Oralda D’Amico from the Human Resources department of Cellnex Italia.

“We explained to them in very simple terms how to write a CV and above all how to behave in a job interview since some will soon come of age,” continues Oralda. “The exciting thing for us was seeing how these kids wanted to learn new things, to obtain useful information about the world of work that may seem trivial to us, but for them it is a great help and gives them the chance to make a new life in our country.”

Corporate volunteering at Cellnex has been given a boost, under the umbrella of the Foundation, and is constantly growing as we continue to build a fairer society for everyone. The groups in the greatest need will enjoy the support of these colleagues whose collective effort really does move mountains.