Thank you to Garfield Weston Foundation

This year, we worked hard to make sure people and communities were better connected to meet real need and social priorities, and to make volunteering accessible to all. Highlights included;

launching a Youth Volunteering Project, encouraging young people to volunteer
organising volunteering activities such as planting sessions with groups of young people with special educational needs
launching our Accessibility Project to encourage deaf people to volunteer
running deaf awareness sessions for Volunteer-Involving Organisations (VIOs)
organising ‘Network and Knowledge’ sessions on wider accessibility issues, including mental health and neurodivergence
being a pivotal partner in the creation and delivery of outreach ‘pods,’ enabling people at risk of homelessness to access support and volunteering opportunities
co-creating a refugee ‘wraparound care event’ for asylum-seeking men, and refugee culture and music events, for people to make community and support agency connections and to promote volunteering

Our Volunteer Connectors in each district provided one to one support to individuals and proactively supported volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs) to find volunteers while our DBS Coordinator has provided a DBS service – essential to many volunteering roles.

Here’s Stephan’s story:

Stephan was made redundant and had difficulty finding work because of a rare type of stroke, resulting in challenges that keep him mainly housebound. He was looking for voluntary work “to help with his mental health and to give something back to society.” He has an academic background and is interested in heraldry.
Our Dover Volunteer Connector contacted a local historic building, and they looked around the refurbishment in hi vis and hard hats. Stephan began working on research and poster design and a book of heraldry. Since this, Stephan has worked with a newly established CIC, Slow The Mind, in Deal, assisting with leaflets and general design.
Stephan said: “When an illness strikes like lightning and changes your life, you are left as a shell of the person you once were. You grasp at something to give you a sense of achievement and a reason to stay alive. I give my time to charities and support groups. When they ask me to make them something and their response is ‘this is brilliant’ it is more rewarding than anything else, it is gives me strength to fight back against my illness, to tell it that this day I have beaten you.”

We held training sessions for people to learn news skills: We introduced a raft of Best Practice training sessions and peer sharing ‘networking and knowledge’ sessions for VIOs on volunteering topics such as safeguarding, dealing with challenging situations and celebrating volunteers. We held introductory training days for people interested in volunteering but hesitant to start due to lack of confidence or uncertainty about what volunteering involves. Here’s what Barbara had to say:

Barbara attended a Confidence Building session to improve her social skills, rebuild confidence and start to improve her strength and stamina as part of her Long Covid recovery. Through the support and encouragement of our Volunteer Connector, she has since volunteered for multiple groups and says her experience with KCV “has been inspiring!”

We have reduced loneliness and isolation: Our volunteer-led services The Good Neighbours Service, a befriending service, and our Community Transport Service, reduce loneliness and isolation, working with 160 volunteers enriching 1,239 lives. Magical matches such as Kate and John have inspired us this year.

John is widowed, lives on top of a steep hill and has been unable to go out for a few years, as he is unsteady on his feet. He relies on his neighbour to take him to hospital appointments and pays someone to walk his dog. The only other contact he has is with the Tesco delivery driver. John said the driver is very kind and takes the food into his kitchen for him, as it would take him ‘all day’. Since matching John with Kate his tone is cheerier. He describes her as a ‘nice, kind and brightens up his week’. Kate pops round to see John a few times a week, they also take the dog out for a walk in the park. They have plans for day trips, and to walk along the seafront (they are waiting for a less windy day). John has said his world has completely changed since meeting Kate. Kate says: “We have a great friendship, and he does as much for me mentally as I do for him 🙂 He’s just worried about being a burden on me. Now he’s realising he’s not.”