Community Engagement through Volunteering

It was National Volunteers Week, last week – did you know?

Many of us volunteer our time without thinking about it. We might sit on a committee. We might support our children’s schools through PTA, school trips or we might help out at the local swimming club or support the music centre with fundraising or serve food at an older people’s luncheon club but how many of you volunteer through work?

Volunteers Weeks is an annual celebration of the fantastic contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK and takes place between 1 – 12 June.

Many businesses recognise the benefits it gives by allowing their staff to contribute to their local community. You may be wondering how this can be?

Here are some key benefits:-

  • Supporting local projects can really raise the profile of your business
  • It gives your staff a really sense of achievement
  • Staff can feel really empowered
  • Sponsoring projects financially can really set you apart from your competitors
  • By providing time for your staff to contribute can be a real team boost or even provide a team building activity
  • Volunteering can provide you with some great news stories to help spread the word about your organisation

In my local community of Oldham I am working with Chadderton Together (a local community group set up as an umbrella organisation of various smaller community groups). They have been allocated budget from the local council to campaign against the closure of Foxdenton Hall in Chadderton. Foxdenton is a Grade II* listed building sat in beautiful parkland which has been closed to the public for over 4 years.

The group have planned various events over the summer to raise the profile of the campaign and need volunteers to organise these days, man stands and gather community support for these local treasure.

Could you give time to support this? Could you allow staff time to support this community group? Are there other ways in which you could help raise funds to support the campaign?

The group can be contacted by their facebook page – Save Foxdenton Hall