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Volunteers’ Week is an annual celebration of the contribution millions of people make across the four nations of the UK and around the globe, through volunteering as service, as leisure and as participation in our communities and democracies. This year due to coronavirus many planned activities for Volunteers' Week have been cancelled for safety reasons and to enable organisations to focus their resources on responding to the pandemic.
IVR joins the salutes to all those volunteers out there in these difficult times, helping respond to the pandemic and helping to maintain what normality we can. We will be sharing their stories and helping to share their messages. This is, unfortunately, a time not just for acting but also for reflecting and IVR will provide opportunities for thinking about where we stand and where we might be going. Finally, we must think about all those volunteers who are currently not able to be out there, doing what plays such a large part in their lives and the lives of those they volunteer with.
This year, IVR will support Volunteer’s Week efforts by:
• helping to share the various messages through retweeting IVRtweets
• providing reflective observations:
- Jules Alderson speaks about the role of volunteers in NHS organisations (pdf document)
- Sophie Rainbird shines a spotlight on volunteering at UEA (pdf document)
- Jurgen Grotz writes a piece at What Works Wellbeing on volunteering during a pandemic
• amplifying a heartfelt message of appreciation and concern for all those wanting to - but currently unable to - volunteer.
To all those who, because of the pandemic, miss volunteering, the social interaction, the feelings of achievement, satisfaction and being involved, and the joy these activities bring, IVR will say on your behalf and encourage others to join us in saying: we will be back soon!
#wewillbeback_soon