2005 was nominated ‘The Year of the Volunteer’ - a nationwide initiative that was designed to promote and applaud volunteering within the charity and community sectors. While 2005 may be over, the initiative is still going strong and, according to Emma Sambrook, chief executive of KidsOut “volunteers offer a level of support, and bring areas of expertise, that have really helped to shape our work.”
KidsOut employs 14 members of staff, yet it boasts to have over 20 people working at its head offices in Church Square, and a further 1,700 volunteers - including those from the Rotary organisation - who offer help and support in its mission of providing fun and happiness for disadvantaged children and young people.
One such local volunteer Sue Halstead who for the last four years has given her time willingly to support the charity. Sue who used to work as a research fellow at the Open University said: “I didn't want to waste my experience and skills, and realised that I could use these to the benefit of a good cause.” Sue helps KidsOut by using her survey skills to research and evaluate the charity's work.
“Whether it's the Rotary Annual KidsOut Day Out, or a mobile music project in Cumbria, we have to know that the work we are doing, and the money we are spending, is doing its job,” says the charity's chief executive Emma Sambrook. “Sue's skills enable us to do this both efficiently and professionally, yet without the costs of recruiting external evaluation companies. She has become a very valuable member of our team.”
Emma is also keen to point out that volunteering is not just a one way advantage. “Good volunteers are exceptional assets to charities. We believe in rewarding volunteers by investing in training where necessary and giving them the same opportunities as our employed members of staff,” she says.
The personal rewards are there too. Says Sue: “There's a strong sense of spirit amongst volunteers. You become part of a team, part of something bigger and that's hugely rewarding.”
This is a view shared by Renu Basudev, also from Leighton Buzzard. Renu has been a regular volunteer for the charity since 2002. “Due to personal circumstances, I hadn't worked for five years. I wanted to do something that I felt passionate about and that would help me return to a positive working environment. Volunteering gave me the opportunity to build my confidence again and work with others as part of a team - a team of great people who really appreciated me. While giving, I was also receiving something back, and that has helped me enormously in realising my potential as a person.”
KidsOut more than recognises the role good volunteers play in the development of a charity. “When KidsOut started, it only had one full time member of staff,” says Emma. (This was local man, John Garner OBE who retired as KidsOut's chief executive in 2004.) “It grew on the back of committed volunteers - who, possibly without even knowing, helped to shape the charity's future.”
The charity, which last year helped over 55,000 disadvantaged children and young people throughout the UK, is now on a drive to recruit more volunteers. “We're in a period of growth,” says Emma. “It's an exciting time for our charity but to realise our potential and objective of supporting more children and young people, we need more volunteers. People who can champion our cause, help build our profile and help raise funds for the work that we need to do. Not just here in Leighton Buzzard, but all over the UK.”
A Leighton Buzzard support group is a good example of this. A team of five local women with a passion to help others, set about establishing a committee to raise up to £6,000 for the charity. The group's Assistant Treasurer, Diane Coles, brought along her daughter Natalie who was just 13 when she took on the role of secretary for the committee. “I get a great buzz working for good causes,” says Natalie, now 16, who has been nominated for an award from the High Sheriff's Office for her work within the community and her care for others, which includes her role as a peer Mentor at Vandyke School. “It is about making a difference and if you can give some time to help others the rewards are very pleasing,” she says. “It gives a true purpose and focus to my life and could take me into a field where I will get a lot of pleasure out of knowing my work matters to others.”
Renu, who is now pursuing a career path in holistic therapy, is keen to point out that volunteering is a two way relationship. “You must first really believe that you have something to offer,” she says. “But also you have to enjoy it, and choose an environment or cause that you're going to be genuinely interested in. That way you'll love what you're doing, not just why or for whom your doing it.”
If you are interested in supporting KidsOut, or would like to find out about other volunteering opportunities within your community, contact Catherine Edwards at Volunteer Centre South Bedfordshire on 01525 850559, visit www.do-it.org.uk or telephone 01525 850559. For more information about KidsOut, its work and the children it helps contact LB 385252, visit www.kidsout.org.uk, or e-mail info@kidsout.org.uk.
KidsOut would like to thank the following local volunteers who were not mentioned in the above article, for their support over the years: Mark Viney, Pauline Morris, Anne Barrett, Fred Shepheard, Erica Fogg, Liz Corbett, Anne Lane, Wendy Bates, Alan Davies, Maria Bryson, Michelle Plumber, Penny Bishop.