Today marks the beginning of Volunteers Week 2017 (1st - 7th June). It celebrates the contribution made by millions of volunteers across the UK. Have you or your loved ones benefitted from volunteers in your caring journey? Or have you volunteered yourself?
Are there any services out there run by volunteers that you think worked well and would like to share?
AGE UK run a telephone friend service where volunteers call an older person once a week for a chat. I volunteer for this myself and I know that both sides can benefit - I love our weekly catch ups!
My mum is part of a local Neighbourcare organisation which puts on transport for people who can't drive themselves. She takes people anywhere they need so it could be hospital appointments or just to the shops. I think she gets a lot out of meeting people in the community as well as the people who need the lifts!
It makes you realise how much we rely on transport to get out and about. Scary that people wouldn't be able to make hospital appointments if it wasn't for local people (or super expensive taxis...)
A few years ago, I helped out organising an open air jazz concert for Macmillan Cancer Support. I had recently moved to the area and volunteering brought me into contact with lots of local people that I would never have met otherwise. We are still friends today and regularly shake collection buckets outside Tesco!
We just wanted to echo those sentiments and give a big shout out and a THANK YOU to all the wonderful volunteers who support the guests at our centres. Did you know that Revitalise runs one of the largest volunteer programmes of any UK charity? It's fair to say we simply couldn't do what we do without the support of our fantastic volunteers, so here's to you!
Carers Week - how can we help?