Volunteer Week is celebrated between 1st and 7th June every year. It’s a week in which the UK celebrates volunteers and says thank you to them for the contribution they make. The week hopefully also raises awareness of the benefits of volunteering.
As well as helping others, volunteering has been shown to have a positive impact on the lives of those who volunteer, assisting individuals to gain new skills and boost their self-esteem.
Volunteers are essential to the delivery of the support Unlock provides, and the skills and passion of our volunteers means that a small organisation like ours can make a significant impact given our size.
As Unlock’s advice manager, one of the most rewarding parts of my job is having the privilege of working with an amazingly diverse and talented group of people. I spend my time ensuring that our volunteers are happy, well-trained and feel supported in their roles whilst developing skills that will be useful to them outside of Unlock – hopefully they’d agree that’s what I do.
In 2018/19, our office-based volunteers gave 4,229 hours of their time to provide information, advice and support to people with convictions; they responded to 70% of the enquiries that our helpline received. Our team of home-based volunteers have carried out a wide range of research and content writing tasks. Their ability to convey information in a clear, concise and logical way combined with their IT and digital skills has been invaluable to us.
What do our volunteers say:
Since volunteering at Unlock I’ve become more confident about discussing my convictions. There’s no way that I’m going to keep letting my past affect my future opportunities” – Tianna
Sadly I had to leave Unlock last year when I moved out of Kent. When I was recently invited to an interview for a totally amazing job, I rang Debbie for some interview tips. When I was offered the job a couple of weeks later, I called her again for a reference. It means so much to know that I can keep in touch and they’ve got my back. I’ve got so many stories to tell about my time at Unlock which makes it easier to forget the bad times” – Louise
Before coming to Unlock, I was in a very dark place. Getting up each morning gave my life structure and purpose and meant that I could focus on something other than my own problems. Unlock literally saved my life” – Peter
A big thank you from Unlock
Want to give volunteering a try?
Have you been inspired by Volunteers Week? Find out more about the current volunteer vacancies at Unlock.
