It is an exciting time for Quaggy at present. We are well into our recovery plan to deliver more services after having to be so very restricted for so long due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Starting to have fewer restrictions and delivering group services means that we can now relaunch our Volunteering Programme, which was so severely restricted over the last 19 months.
We have been able to utilise our wonderful one to one volunteers as well as our Board of Volunteer Trustees, all of whom have supported us in such a committed and positive manner over this time. They have made a real, positive difference to the Quaggy Community.
The next phase now is about relaunching our wider volunteering opportunities in the Nurseries, Children’s Centres, Youth Club, Older People’s Lunch Club and even the Quaggy Community Café, as well as building on the Volunteer Counsellor placements.
Volunteers add greatly to the work we do across the organisation. They mean an extra set of helping hands, an extra smile and welcome to our community and extra capacity to the services we deliver.
It is important to remember though, that we want to meet their needs too! They give their valuable time freely, and we want to make sure that Volunteering for Quaggy is a rewarding experience for them.
For some, it may be that they want to ‘give something back’ to the community, for others, it might be that they are at a loose end and have time to fill, and for others it might be their first step into an area that they want to make their career.
Volunteering with Quaggy leads to being more involved in the community, building new relationships, improved confidence, improved emotional wellbeing, a sense of belonging as well as being a great thing to add to a CV!
We often feel that if we approach someone to ask if they might be willing to become a volunteer for us, that they might feel taken advantage of – however, as long as they can say no, many people feel flattered that we think they could add value to our teams.
Please keep your eyes and ears open for potential volunteers and let Dawn Brown (dbrown@quaggychildrenscentre.org.uk or 07525 913948) know if anyone seems interested. We need a diverse team of volunteers. You could be making their day by just asking!
