Hear from Ruth Metcalfe, Business Development Manager at Aspire Recruitment, who recently volunteered with Mencap and contributed to their story telling project to raise awareness during Learning Disability Week (17th-23rd June):
I've never worked for a company that offers volunteer days, so I was keen to explore this when I started working for Aspire.
Mencap is a charity that Aspire partner with to support in a volunteering capacity throughout the year. This year we have entered an award at the Spirit of Manchester Awards 2024 – in the community and business collaboration category. This is something that we're all very excited about.
Mencap are currently working on a story telling project where people with a learning disability can tell their life story in their own words.
I recently spent a rewarding 3 hours of my day volunteering at their centre in Denton. It was an absolute pleasure to spend time with the person who told me his story – and goodness me we had fun.
He was so excited to be able to talk about himself and his life experiences. I have never written so quickly to get it all down on paper! The questions centred around school, holidays, home, and his experiences around these topics. He kept saying he could not believe I wanted to know this about him and how special that made him feel.
For me, it was great to be able to have some time in my working day to be able to give something back in a positive way. It made me feel happy that I was able to do this and see the work that these charities do making such a difference to people daily. It was very humbling.
The words myself and other volunteers captured will be written up so that they can re-tell them on the 19th June during Learning Disability Week. This will be an evening of fun and celebration and a wonderful platform for them to share their story.
I think using your GC volunteer days through the Volunteer2Day programme is a real benefit, and I know that I'll be using the rest of mine before the year is out. It is so worth taking time out of your busy schedule to volunteer. I would absolutely recommend it.
