Centre for Voluntary Service in Three Rivers - Volunteer Centre in Three Rivers

2 Jun 2008 - Volunteers Week 2008

A Fruitful Volunteers Week

Volunteers Week 2008 has proved to be the most successful for years with many people taking an interest in finding out more about volunteering.

The annual event was marked this year in Three Rivers with a roaming human fruit machine – guaranteed to attract attention.

The eye-catching attraction brought in curious passers-by who could have a go on the “machine” in exchange for taking a Volunteer Centre leaflet. Winners won a lollipop and all received a Volunteer Centre keyring. No money changed hands – emphasising that volunteering is about having fun and contributing time and energy rather than money.

Staff took the opportunity to talk to people and encouraged them to find out more about the wide variety of opportunities available to them.

“It was lovely to meet so many people and to hear from them first hand what they were already doing,” said Jeanette Harley, Volunteer Centre Manager, pictured in the pink plumed hat.

“We met charity trustees, carers, people who look after their neighbours and many others who ‘do their bit’ for the community but who would not even consider themselves to be volunteers.

“Volunteers Week is about recognising and rewarding volunteers as well as recruiting them. So much volunteering is informal that it often goes unrecognised such as the people who do gardening or shopping for their neighbours.

”People do it because they care and want to live in a nicer community.”

The “fruit machine” visited Abbots Langley, Chorleywood, Rickmansworth and South Oxhey during the week. There was also a display at Waitrose in Rickmansworth from which many people took away information leaflets.

The event was sponsored by Camelot.