Volunteers' Week celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and runs from Monday 3rd June until Sunday 9th.
Here at GC, our volunteering policy, Volunteer2day, allows you to take up to two days leave in any one-year rolling period to volunteer.
You can take your two days leave in hours, half days and full days, and if your volunteering is done outside of the working day, you can claim this time back in lieu.
If you have already done volunteering in the calendar year which you would like to count towards your two days, you are able to do this and claim the time back in the same way.
Start thinking about how you and your team could mark Volunteering Week. Here are some recent examples where our colleagues have been out in the community making a difference to people's lives and enriching their own through the volunteering experience:
Colleague volunteer runs community dance troupe: Bolton Rebels
Joanne Gavin, NHS Integration Co-ordinator within the Partnership team in GC Employment, became the troupe leader when she took over a local community dance troupe Bolton Rebels in 2011, with the help of both of her daughters. The troupe was about to close and she felt that local children needed these opportunities.
She's a strong advocate of community and volunteering, especially helping younger people who may not normally get the chance to take part in dance due to barriers – so she's kept costs to a minimum and supplies uniforms to ensure anyone can take part.
All the team are volunteers and give up at least five hours a week to help train, fundraise for uniforms and equipment, take people to competitions etc. and GC colleague, Linzi Boardman (St, Helens Restart Manager) also came on board in 2018 when her daughter joined. She decided to have a go herself in the senior team as a way of keeping fit and started to volunteer with our younger teams after the pandemic.
Joanne told us more about what the troupe means to her, and the community:
"Our troupe members range from 2 years old up to adults, and we're told by dancers and parents how it has helped not only support their physical and mental health, but also said that the friends they make are friends for life.
"As you can see from the pictures below, we recently received an award at 'Bolton Women in Business Awards 2024' in the 'Women in Music and Dance' category – being against full time businesses and getting this award was an honour and shows the hard work and commitment from all the volunteers".
"My volunteering hours from GC have helped me take the team to competitions that they would never have had the opportunity to attend – including the GBBTA World Championships in Blackpool. These competitions run from Friday-Sunday and involve planning and fundraising, and with the support myself and Linzi receive from GC, we know that we can get this time as part of our Volunteering hours – and if we ever need extra time on a training day they are always happy to support us as part of the GC commitment to volunteering and giving back."
Linzi told explains why the troupe is important to her:
“I love volunteering with Bolton Rebels – and being part of a bigger family and bringing the children in our local community a safe place to dance and make new friends. Without the rebels, so many children would not have the opportunity to dance and perform.”
IPSPC team litter pick in the community, which supports their mental fitness and team building
In honour of Mental Health Awareness Week, our Trafford Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) team went litter picking. They got to enjoy the sun, whilst helping cleaning up our streets and green spaces.
As they're normally busy working all over Trafford supporting their clients, this was a perfect way to catch up and clear the mind at the same time.
Taking part were Beth Lord, Andy Spensley, Reece Burns and Mikala Agg.
Reflecting on the experience, Beth Lord – Employment Specialist, told us:
"Myself and the rest of the Trafford IPS team went litter picking in Sale, along the canal and into the town centre, for Mental Health Awareness Week. We thought it would be a great way to bask in the sunshine and also help the community, knowing we were both getting out from behind our laptops and doing a good thing.
"As we're out in the community for most of our time, we don’t get much time to hang out week-to-week, apart from the odd Teams call here and there, so it was also good for the mind to have a proper catch up and spend some quality time together."
