This week, The Parish Trust is celebrating National Volunteers’ Week, where we showcase and honour the work that is undertaken by volunteers to make our charity the success that it is.
On behalf of The Board of Trustees and our Staff Team, I would like to wholeheartedly thank every volunteer who has contributed to the work of The Parish Trust over the last year. The Board and the staff team here are acutely aware that without your dedication and passion for the organisation, the charity could not function.
In 2021, 239 of you contributed nearly 9000 hours to volunteering, which enabled us to run our projects from delivering food parcels, to nurturing mental health and wellbeing in the community, to hosting over 100 registered children at our events and clubs dedicated to children and young people. This is before we think about those who occasionally volunteer with us through our CARE Collection programme, and those who have promoted our work through leaflet distribution.
Every hour of your time has directly impacted the community, and will have helped to enrich someone’s life. We cannot stress enough to you how good this is to see.
Every week, your work creates wonderful stories of transformation in people who need help, or who have been touched by The Parish Trust in some way. You show love, you demonstrate kindness, you create community. You make a difference.
Recognising the work you do, we are keen to further invest in our volunteers for the future, which is why we are engaging in various initiatives such as working towards our Investing in Volunteers Award. More recently, we have welcomed Luke Coleman, our Wellbeing Coordinator, who will be looking into hosting various events for volunteers to enjoy and be a part of. We have also welcomed Carrie Gealy, whose portfolio will focus on Children and Youth, investing in them, and drawing them deeper into the work of the charity, both as volunteers and beneficiaries.
As a Christian based organisation, Jesus’ words to love our neighbour as he loves us are at the heart of our organisation, and we believe that volunteers are vital in living out this ideal. We are fortunate to work with a diverse army of volunteers, some who share our Christian faith, some who are not sure, and some who wouldn’t describe themselves as believers, but still want to get behind and support of philanthropic aims of making our world a better place. This joint effort by our volunteers is tangible.
I am pleased to say that, at year end, every year since the founding of the charity, I have signed off our annual report with confidence, knowing that we have worked for the public benefit. That is largely down to our volunteers.
So, as we celebrate Volunteers Week for 2022, with various social media campaigns planned and some special events for our Volunteers, may I reiterate my continued thanks for all you do, and may God richly bless you as you selflessly serve others with such dedication.
With my love,
Rev. Dean Aaron Roberts | Chair of Trustees
