Many organisations rely heavily on volunteers, you will hear comments such as “life blood” and “backbone” when those organisations describe what the contribution from volunteers means to them.
However, you will also hear how difficult it is becoming for those organisations to find new volunteers.
This is where Volunteer Connect, a jewel in the local volunteering crown, comes in. Volunteer Connect was established in April 2012 as a project of Citizens Advice North Oxon & South Northants. Its purpose is to connect potential volunteers and volunteer opportunity providers in and around the Cherwell area, providing support for opportunity providers looking to recruit volunteers and to people looking to become volunteers.
Since April this year, Volunteer Connect found potential volunteers for volunteer opportunity providers such as The Friends of Frank Wise School, Making Mischief, ARCh (Assisted Reading for Children), Enrych, Local Larder, Banbury Community Support Service, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Restore, Volunteer Driver Service, Girlguiding Cherwell, Thames Valley Police, Banbury Parkinson’s Group, Medical Detection Dogs and Tooley’s Boatyard Trust.
The range of volunteer roles that Volunteer Connect has helped match with potential volunteers is extremely varied and includes friends of group volunteer, history project volunteer, assisted reader volunteer, trustee, volunteer food driver, gardener volunteer, mentoring/befriending volunteer, farm assistant volunteer, volunteer electric blanket testing driver, Girlguiding volunteer, volunteer custody visitor, volunteer treasurer, volunteer puppy socialiser and volunteer boat trip helper.
Volunteer Connect does the majority of its volunteer brokering through Facebook and can be found really easily on Facebook by searching for Volunteer Connect. In just 4 months 43 potential volunteers have been matched with volunteer opportunity providers.
Those volunteers will volunteer for a little less than 3000 hours over the course of a year, making a significant difference. Volunteer Connect is really bucking the trend of organisations finding volunteers harder to come by.
Volunteers not only get that feel good factor when helping their community, it can also help individuals gain confidence, develop their skill base and meet new people. Volunteer providers are able to continue and grow their service within the community and combat the difficulty of finding volunteers by getting some help, for FREE.
If you are thinking about volunteering and would like to become part of that significant difference, then please have a look at the Volunteer Connect Facebook page. If you don’t use Facebook or want to know more about volunteering and the available opportunities please make contact using the contact details below.
Similarly, if you are a volunteer opportunity provider that would like to try and make a significant difference to your volunteer numbers, then please get in touch using the contact details below.
To find out more please call:
0300 3030 126
or email:
[email protected]
