Cellnex supports the Aspasim Foundation through corporate volunteering

Each year, nearly 500 Cellnex Telecom employees donate one euro from their monthly payroll to fund solidarity projects through the Euro Solidario initiative. After two years of collection, and with the support of the Cellnex Foundation, the company's employees have allocated 56,000 euros to promote the initiative Un huerto para todos (A garden for everyone), from the Aspasim foundation.

"The most magical thing about this initiative is that the volunteers themselves develop the proposals, which they must detail exhaustively, and they decide the destination of this sum, which this year has reached 56,000 euros," comments Àngels Ucero, Director of Sustainability at Cellnex and Director of the Cellnex Foundation, "it implies involvement, empathy, enthusiasm and passion for what we believe in."

With the resources donated by Cellnex employees this year, a non-profit organization that looks after the well-being and inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities through a garden located in Collserola has been supported. "It is an ecological, accessible and open garden to everyone that promotes a space for inverse inclusion, which normalizes and makes visible the capacities of people whom society only sees as disabled," says Rosa María Albarran, project manager of Environment at Cellnex and promoter of the Aspasim Foundation's candidacy, with which she has collaborated closely for several years.

Cellnex's donation will allow the conditioning of the land where the garden is located, as well as the educational classroom where children's horticulture workshops are held and the accesses for people with reduced mobility. The foundation plans to promote measures such as incorporating ramps and walkways, and installing automatic irrigation systems and augmentative communication systems. It will also allocate resources to expand the scope and quality of the activities and workshops it offers.

After the donation, the Cellnex volunteer team visited this Aspasim initiative, checking firsthand the impact it has on the environment, education and social inclusion. Marc Tort, a garden volunteer, was in charge of explaining the project to them, as well as showing them every corner of this garden in Collserola. Tort also shared basic notions about organic, regenerative, local and inclusive agriculture.

Corporate volunteering program

For years, Cellnex has supported the solidarity initiatives proposed by its employees and works on a corporate volunteering program, now channeled through its foundation, where projects closely linked to its know-how are launched to cooperate with sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda. "Every week, more than 1,800 people with economic difficulties and at risk of social exclusion receive essential non-food products thanks to our network of volunteers and collaborating entities," says Josep Lluís Guiu, head of Cellnex's Sustainability department. This and other conclusions were presented at the II Volunteering Conference held by Cellnex and the Cellnex Foundation.

Beyond the social motivations of volunteering, there is the impact it has on the employees of the companies themselves. According to Voluntare, an international network for the promotion of Corporate Volunteering in Europe and Latin America, more than 76% of volunteers claim to have improved their physical and mental health, as it reduces stress and impacts personal growth. The entity also points out that corporate volunteering strengthens the link with the company's purpose by 30% and improves employee engagement by up to 20%. Likewise, it adds, it is an activity that very positively influences the integration of diversity, equality, and inclusion policies in organizations.