Unicard News
Unicard staff join hike to raise money for mental health charity
Employees use volunteering leave to help Dorset Mind UK and Hindu temple
October 5th 2022 by Unicard

Employees at Unicard have taken part in a fundraising walk in aid of a charity that supports people with mental health challenges.

They made a 12-mile round trip along the Castleman’s Trailway route near Unicard’s Dorset office to raise money for Dorset Mind UK, which is Unicard’s chosen charity for 2022/23.

Dorset Mind supports local people with mental health challenges. It seeks to educate, challenge mental health stigma and inequality, and promote recovery by empowering individuals to develop resilience.

All employees at Unicard can take up to two days of paid leave every year to carry out voluntary work or fundraising for good causes.

One of Unicard’s project managers used his time off in September to volunteer to lead the first-ever VR event at a Hindu temple in the UK.

The Hindu temple, the oldest and largest one in Wales, was celebrating its 40th anniversary.

As part of the week-long celebrations at the Shree Swaminarayan Temple in Cardiff – which attracted more than 3,000 visitors – Khushal Hirani from Unicard (pictured below) led the media team, coordinating the live-streaming of the event, as well as photography and other filming.

He also led the Virtual Reality team, allowing visitors to experience Darshanam (a term in Hinduism meaning “a vision of a deity”) by viewing idols in the city of Ahmedabad in India using a VR headset.

This was the first-ever VR event hosted at a UK temple.