Volunteers' Week 1- 7 June 2021
Volunteers’ Week 2021 took place at the start of June 2021. It provided us all with an opportunity to recognise the invaluable and often unseen contribution volunteers make within our communities.
ONSIDE wanted to recognise and say thanks to its volunteers who went above and beyond for its participants during the COVID lockdowns. They had such a positive impact on participants’ lives despite the pandemic and its restrictions.
During #VolunteersWeek we ran a social media campaign ‘Volunteers Unlock the Internet’ see details below and held an appreciation event for our volunteers via Zoom.
Social media campaign ‘Unlocking the Internet in lockdown’
To celebrate #VolunteersWeek we ran a social media campaign ‘Unlocking the Internet in lockdown’ which gave our volunteers a platform to tell their story of volunteering and what being a Peer Volunteer means to them.
Elaine Roub, Peer Volunteer Co-ordinator said: “Disabled people are disproportionately ‘non internet users’ so when COVID hit, many disabled people were left stranded, alone in their own homes with no contact to the outside world. Our volunteers work diligently behind the scenes assisting the ONSIDE team in digitally upskilling participants and supporting them one on one, connecting them to the outside world”.
During the seven days of Volunteers’ Week our Peer Volunteers told their blend of stories of overcoming adversity and the life enhancing impact of volunteering (see videos below). To promote our Volunteers’ Week celebrations Elaine our Peer volunteer Coordinator and Nigel, our Peer Volunteer spoke to BBC Radio Ulster’s ‘On Your Behalf’ programme, you can listen to a clip on the right.
Nigel chats to Linda McAuley host of ‘On Your Behalf’ - 5 June 2021
We hope our volunteers’ stories inspired and influenced others to get involved in volunteering.