For the fourth consecutive year Leeds Rhinos Foundation has welcomed a new colleague to work with their charity on a year’s secondment from their partners, Leeds Building Society.
The partnership has seen Leeds Building Society support the official charity of Leeds Rhinos, by seconding a colleague for a twelve-month period. Following three previous successful placements since 2014, William Smithson is the latest colleague to join the Leeds based charity to work on their educational and fundraising projects.
William has been with Leeds Building Society as a Customer Service Advisor since November 2015, after graduating from Falmouth University in 2010.
He applied for the opportunity to join Leeds Rhinos Foundation to enhance his skills and understanding of a different organisation and the charity sector and will be able to work with the charity on a wide variety of subjects.
Since his start date in July, he has supported the educational projects in Try Zone, such as 'Work Club' which aids local people looking for work, ‘Rhinos Active Social’ in the planning and support of activities for over 60s and delivery support on the Foundation’s ‘Try Club’ Men’s Health Management programme.
Speaking about this secondment William said:
“I’m delighted to have been offered the opportunity to work with The Leeds Rhinos Foundation for a year and am really looking forward to the work I will be doing whilst part of the team there.
“So far I have been involved in a lot of the community based projects such as ‘Try Club’ and ‘Active Social’ which look to promote healthy living and social inclusion with the local area. I have really enjoyed my first 2 months here and can’t wait to see what opportunities the rest of my secondment will hold.”
Dan Busfield, Leeds Rhinos Foundation's Partnership Manager, said:
“We are very grateful to Leeds Building Society for supporting our charity again this year.
“William has already proven to be very versatile supporting different projects and with lots of exciting developments and programmes happening all the time at the Foundation, there will be plenty more opportunities to support our work and develop new skills that benefit him and Leeds Building Society following the completion of the placement year."
Becky Hewitt, Director of People at Leeds Building Society, said:
“The opportunity for one of our colleagues to work with The Leeds Rhinos Foundation is fantastic. It allows a colleague to test their current competence levels in a different working environment whilst learning new skills and gaining new experiences that they can bring back to us. William has made a fantastic start and I am sure his learning will be a great asset to our future.”
If you would like more information on how you can support the work of Leeds Rhinos Foundation visit www.leedsrhinosfoundation.org