Volunteers' Week 2009

Rewarding, recognising and recruiting volunteers

Volunteers' Week Newsletter

Volunteers' Week is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2009. This annual awareness week celebrates volunteers and volunteering. With more than 22 million people throughout the UK donating their time and effort in one way or another every year, this week is used to recognise their valued contribution to society as well as encouraging others to consider getting involved.

Click here to view the online version of the newsletter

Welcome

Welcome to the third edition of the Volunteers’ Week enewsletter. Last week we were very excited to launch the new-look website. This site is the hub for all of your Volunteers’ Week needs, as well as being a great information source for volunteers and volunteer involving organisations. So jump online and discover its many new features.

The new-look website

Our new-look interactive website now includes a number of fresh features including volunteer profiles and contact details for our partners, resources to help your events go off with a bang, the latest lines of branded merchandise and the new ‘thank you’ and ‘tell your story’ pages.

We are also excited to be able to bring you more than 100 personal stories and pictures from volunteers across the country. These stories help challenge the perception of volunteering and provide a special insight into why people volunteer and what it brings to their lives. One such story is featured in this edition of the enewsletter.

Our partner organisations have also provided information about the lesser well known volunteering roles available within their organisations and also feature stories from their volunteers.

If you are celebrating Volunteers’ Week we encourage you to jump online and download the free special 25th anniversary promotional items which include a poster, flyer, certificate and media kit.

Also remember to register your event with the online event finder. This will help promote your event to not only existing volunteers but those in the general public who may be looking to become a volunteer.

As Volunteers’ Week is an event celebrated by thousands throughout the country, you can now become part of the bigger picture by following us on Twitter. Simply search for us to join in the fun and receive the latest updates.

Online store

Branded merchandise for Volunteers’ Week is now available for purchase. Some of the items include pin badges, sweets, mugs, pens, caps, t-shirts and recognition plaques. While most feature the standard Volunteers’ Week branding, this year we are excited to also offer a number of limited edition 25th anniversary items. These are a great memento to provide to your volunteers in recognition of this special milestone.

Please remember that Volunteering England members will receive a 10 per cent discount on all items purchased. To receive this discount, remember to insert your VE membership username and password when online or completing the paper based order form.

Our partners

We are thrilled to be working with many organisations who value their volunteers. These include our latest partners: the National Trust, Project You, Citizens Advice Bureau, Getting on Board and Abbeyfield. We look forward to working with them to celebrate this anniversary and the role of volunteering in our communities.

Information about all our anniversary partners is available on the Volunteers’ Week website. Our partner organisations all provide volunteering opportunities across a number of interests including: Animals, Arts and Cultural, Befriending, Children and Youth, Community,  Defence, Disabilities, Education, Emergency Services, Employee-volunteering, Environment, Faith, Fundraising, Health, Heritage, Housing, International Development, Justice, Older people, Political, Self-help, Social Care, Sport and Transport.

As you will see there truly is a type of volunteering for everyone!

Say thanks or share your story

As this year is the 25th anniversary of Volunteers’ Week why not mark the occasion by saying thank you to a volunteer that has helped you in some way.

This is a great opportunity to publicly thank someone who has contributed to their local community. Whether it is regularly driving someone to the local doctors, working in a charity shop or coaching the local football team these are all types of volunteering that should be celebrated. You can leave your message by visiting the Volunteers' Week website.

Alternatively may you like to share your own personal volunteering story, or some volunteering pictures. These can be sent to us at volunteersweek@volunteeringengland.org.uk.

The many faces of volunteering

Each edition we will be recognising one of the many volunteers throughout the country. Robert Gatonye is just one of the thousands of people who volunteer regularly.

"I got involved in a local football school as I just wanted to help out and I didn’t have much to do on a Sunday, so I thought why not. Its great helping people to develop their skills and seeing their progress is really fulfilling."

News from Northern Ireland

As part of Northern Ireland’s Volunteers’ Week campaign, the Volunteer Development Agency is working in partnership with the Association of Charity Shops to help raise the profile of volunteering and encourage more people into their local charity shops. 

Window display materials are being developed to promote the week which will feature in the high street shops across Northern Ireland from May until 7 June 2009.

The charity shops will also be distributing information about how to get involved in volunteering through Volunteer Centres Northern Ireland as well as promoting specific opportunities with their charities.

Charities taking part include: Action Cancer, Age Concern Help the Aged NI, Barnardos, British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross, Cancer Research UK, Compass Advocacy Network, East Belfast Mission, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Oxfam Ireland, Quaker Care, Save the Children and Southern Area Hospice Services.

The agency is also keen to hear from volunteer involving organisations throughout Northern Ireland who can help raise the profile of volunteering through the local, and possibly national media. To share you story about your volunteers and projects please contact maria@volunteering-ni.org.

An initiative of Volunteering England, Wales Council for Voluntary Action, Volunteer Development Agency (Northern Ireland) and Volunteer Development Scotland, the week will focus on rewarding, recognising and recruiting volunteers.