Celebrating our volunteers

With more than one hundred people giving their time, energy and enthusiasm to support Humankind’s work, volunteers are vital to our charity and as the year draws to a close we’ve been taking time to recognise all they’ve done for us over the last 12 months.

Throughout December we held a number of regional celebration events to bring together volunteers so we could show our appreciation for their commitment, and to have some fun.

The events were our way of saying a huge ‘thank you’ to volunteers across Humankind and provided an opportunity for people to connect with volunteers they’d not met before.

Regional Directors supported the events by sharing their own experience of volunteering and giving their personal thanks to volunteers.

Jo Choi, Assistant Director for London and the South East, described the London event as “impactful and inspiring” and went on to say it was “a light-hearted and fun day, which recognised volunteers as integral to our service delivery”.

Clare Lynn, Director of Services in the North East, said “It was a fabulous event and it was a real privilege to spend time with our volunteers”.

As well as having the chance to share stories with each other and hear from staff, volunteers were issued with a certificate and goodie bag and were played a message of thanks from CEO, Paul Townsley.

Several volunteers kindly shared their journeys with others present and they were well received, drawing rounds of applause and sometimes tears due to the emotion shared. There were also quizzes, that brought out people’s competitive side, and at the North East event a local musician kindly performed for the group.

Reflecting on what they enjoyed most from the event, one volunteer said: “I loved it all, especially the recognition for the volunteers who do a fab job every week, and hearing people’s stories was very inspiring and uplifting”, while another added: “I thought it was a joyous, well-organised event. I enjoyed the volunteer stories and the thanks from services.”

Thank you to all of the volunteers across the country who have made such an important contribution to Humankind this year.