At the start of June, we celebrated Volunteers’ Week – a time to recognise volunteers across the country and thank them for their contribution to their communities.
Family Action wanted to make sure all of our volunteers know how highly they are valued. Each volunteer received a thank you card from our CEO, Sir David Holmes, commending their commitment to supporting others and recognising that we couldn’t run many of our services without them. Several services held celebrations with their volunteers during the week of celebration – many of which were attended by members of Family Action’s Senior Leadership Group, who were keen to have the opportunity to thank our volunteers in person.
Ricardo Gomes da Silva, Director of Systems, went for afternoon tea with volunteers in our Pregnancy to Three service in Medway. Ricardo especially enjoyed meeting volunteers with lived experience, saying
It was wonderful to hear first-hand about the great work our volunteers and the service do in their community, its impact, and the passion that volunteers showed in supporting new mums in this service. In particular, it was inspiring to see the journey of a volunteer that used to access the service who is now volunteering to support other new mums in the community.
Jackie Sands, who organised the event said “The Medway Pregnancy to Three team were delighted to welcome eight of our fabulous volunteers to an afternoon tea to celebrate Volunteers’ Week 2025. We were pleased to be joined by Ricardo, who was keen to talk to the volunteers about their roles and motivations. The food was lovely, the cakes delicious and the company was perfect, as the volunteers shared their successes and made plans for the future. Thanks everyone, we must do this again soon!”
Meanwhile in Southend, our FOOD club volunteers enjoyed a games evening, involving a quiz, games of pool and Karaoke, organised by Sarah Selvarajah, Volunteer and Community Engagement Coordinator. They were joined by Nick Bridges, Deputy Director of People, who also visited volunteers at a Relate charity shop in Whitstable. Nick told us,
It was great to get out and about twice during Volunteers’ Week and meet some of our wonderful volunteers in Whitstable and Southend. Whether it’s our Relate at Family Action shop in Whitstable or our FOOD Clubs in Southend, we couldn’t run either without the support of such a great team of volunteers. To be able to meet a number of them, and to hear their stories about how they became a volunteer and how much they enjoy volunteering with us, was really inspirational.
We had the pleasure of meeting volunteers at our BAND service in Bolton for afternoon tea (a popular choice of event!). BAND has some of Family Action’s longest serving volunteers; among others, Shamela, who has been volunteering for 14 years and whose commitment to supporting her community really shone through in our conversation. We also met some of their newest volunteer recruits, Lauren and Julie, who are volunteering to support their studies and have just reached the end of the comprehensive training programme; both of them are raring to get started in their roles.
BAND is just one of many services that illustrates all that is great about volunteering. The impact the volunteers have in their community and in the lives of the individuals they support is clear. Shamela told us that the staff working with the mental health patients she visits in hospital don’t have time in their busy work days to stop and chat or socialise, but that is often exactly what people need. She knows how much patients look forward to her visits, and how it supports their mental health recovery. Equally, it was evident from the way she described her role that she gets so much benefit from volunteering – the fact she’s been doing it for 14 years is testament to that – and she is clearly very proud of her work with BAND.
Elsewhere in the country, our Leeds Young Carers, ESCAPE allotments in Norfolk, EPEC Manchester, and Stockton 0-19 services all held their own celebrations, with others planned for later in the summer in Peterborough and Hackney.
Volunteers bring so much to our services in so many ways, and everyone benefits from their involvement – our service users, our volunteers themselves, and our whole organisation.
