John helps in charity shop for Volunteers Week
John Healey MP volunteered at the Rotherham Hospice shop in Wath to support Volunteers Week 2012 which runs June 1 to 7.
John said: “Millions of people help others and their communities in all sorts of ways every year.
“Volunteers Week is a way we can all celebrate the vital contribution volunteers make and encourage and inspire others to take part.”
Tracey Harrison-Marr, voluntary services manager at Rotherham Hospice, said: “Volunteers are vital to Rotherham Hospice in so many ways. Not only do they help raise much needed funds in our retail shops, they also promote the work of the hospice at our various events in the community.
“Around 45% of our volunteers are directly involved with our patients either here at the hospice or within the community.
“There are various types of volunteering available at the hospice from regular weekly shifts to ad hoc events. Full training and support is available to all of our volunteers and we are always looking for new people to join our team.”
Rotherham Hospice have 311 volunteers aged from 15 to 95 covering:
• Administration support
• Bereavement Support
• Community Volunteering
• Complementary Therapy
• Day Unit
• Driving
• Fundraising – events, sales, marshalling
• Gardeners
• Hairdressing
• In patient unit
• Kitchen/catering
• Minibus passenger assistants
• Retail volunteers
Volunteers within the hospice gave over 16,000 hours last year and the retail shop volunteers gave approximately over 9,000 hours of their time.
Every year, over 20 million people across England and the UK volunteer, donating more than 100 million hours to their communities every week. It has been estimated that the economic value of this activity is worth in excess of £40 billion to our economy.