Volunteers Week 2021: A time to say thanks
Volunteering happens all year round - not just in Volunteers’ Week. Without so many volunteers pulling together through 2020 to provide essential support to communities in Bedfordshire, the pandemic would have been a lot more dismal.
At Community Voluntary Service we want to mark this week by acknowledging the momentous effort that has gone into so many volunteering activities. Over the past 15 months we have seen new mutual aid groups spring up and into action within days or weeks, existing groups divert their energies to meet new needs, and new ways devised to provide the critical ongoing support that so many community groups and charities provide.
“I’m amazed and impressed about what’s been happening in Bedfordshire. Groups have rolled up their sleeves and just got on with it.”
Jane Owen - CVS Senior Advisor
- THANK YOU - to everyone who launched headfirst into offering support, whilst learning best practice, how to safeguard and keep volunteers safe along the way. We were pleased to have been able to offer advice to many groups to help them run smoothly and safely whilst delivering food parcels or helping isolated individuals.
- THANK YOU - to all those who stepped up as NHS Volunteer responders – making themselves available through the GoodSAM app and willing to give unspecified quantities of time to provide help where needed.
- THANK YOU - to the hundreds who answered our local pleas for help at Bedford Hospital, and with testing centres and vaccination centres throughout the County. We were humbled by the many messages from those of you desperate to help in any way possible. And it isn’t too late – vaccination centres are still looking for volunteers as the programme continues to roll out. Anyone interested can complete a Communities 1st sign up form.
- THANK YOU - to the social media champions who shared an opportunity, good cause, or connected those in need with those who could help.
- THANK YOU - to those who overcame challenges in order to continue to support charities and community groups – learning new technologies to deliver adapted services.
- THANK YOU - to those who quietly got on with the volunteering they had always been doing – whether it be shifts at the Samaritans, holiday clubs with Bedford & District Cerebral Palsy Society, telephone befriending or supporting at Food banks – you continued to do what you always do, whilst managing the extra demand on the way.
- THANK YOU - to those who have been patiently waiting to be able to get back to the volunteering they were doing whilst it had to be paused but who have remained committed to the organisations they are a part of and are ready and raring to go when they are needed again.
As we all head back to a settled post pandemic pattern, we are expecting more of the traditional volunteering roles to return onto our Simply Connect system, and we anticipate a high demand on charities and organisations offering support to people. We know that the voluntary sector will be called upon to deliver programmes addressing mental health issues, loneliness, bereavement, poverty and unemployment as part of the COVID recovery plan.
Perhaps Volunteers Week this year offers a time to take stock? Please, look after your mental health, take a breather if you need to, but don't let go of the numerous benefits that volunteering brings to both you and others. Then ask yourself, what next?
If you would like help finding your next volunteering position, contact volunteering@cvsbeds.org.uk and ask for a one to one interview with one of our volunteering advisors.
To hear more from us on a regular basis (monthly) - sharing volunteering stories and opportunities across Bedfordshire, sign up to receive our newsletter Strength to Strength.
