Volunteers have always played a vital role within the third sector. In the age of austerity, charities striving to carry out their mission and provide services for vulnerable groups and individuals, rely more than ever on the skills, time commitments and passion of their volunteers.

Foundation benefits from a growing number of volunteers who help with many different areas of our work. Our Darlington project speaks here of the innovations they have developed within their service, thanks to the commitment of their volunteers. Darlington Support Worker, Chris reports:

‘Darlington have recruited two volunteer Counselling Students who are in the final year of their Counselling degree. The offender scheme and Young Parents and Family Service (YPFS) will be offering this service on a weekly basis starting in October. There has already been a lot of customer interest in this free to access and no waiting list service. Offender scheme customers  are already booked in for the 10th October start date. The YPFS project sessions will be starting end of October.

 

Darlington now have five active community volunteers with a  further two customers who are in the early stages of being signed up as volunteers. Having volunteers helps us to run activities and get our customers involved in the service.

help

Also coming up in Darlington are customer group work activities include Halloween and Christmas Crafts. Starting on the 4th November at the YPFS office Darlington, the Learning and Skills training board will be delivering a Family Relationships course  on a weekly basis.’

As commissioners place more emphasis on the value of volunteers within services, Foundation recognise just how much they bring to the service and our customers. A huge thank you to all Foundation volunteers!