At WomenCentre, we are extremely fortunate to have 60 amazing volunteers (including our Trustees, Matrons and Ambassadors) who dedicate their time to help women across Calderdale and Kirklees (over 3500 hours). Our volunteers provide direct support to women at our drop ins, facilitate our support and social groups, provide telephone support to women that have experienced domestic abuse in our Staying Safe team, help to organise and run events, and generally help out at our centres to ensure our essential services run smoothly for the women who need them.

 

Impact of our volunteers

Having volunteers willing to give their time to help our service users helps us to increase our capacity and offer many more services than we would without them.
Lot’s of our support or activity groups, such as our social club, are run solely by volunteers. Without them we wouldn’t have capacity to offer these sessions to the women that rely on them.
Our drop in volunteers help provide support and information to women, as well as a welcoming face and listening ear, providing a lifeline to some women that don’t know where else to turn.
Our Staying Safe volunteers have given us the chance to reach out to many more women experiencing domestic abuse, in turn helping them to get them the support they need.

We are so grateful to our dedicated volunteers for offering their valuable time and skills to WomenCentre, we couldn’t do it without them.

 

Benefits of volunteering

There are so many benefits to volunteering with WomenCentre. Here are some of the things our volunteers have told us they have gained from their voluntary experience with us:
• Learning valuable new skills and gaining work experience
• Gaining confidence and self esteem
• Feeling a sense of ‘giving back’ and doing something good to help others
• Support others through something you have also experienced and share ‘lived experience’
• Gained new friends and meet more people
• Learned more about different cultures and communities in the area
• Being part of a team all working for a good cause

And for us, we gain so much from our volunteers too! As well as increasing our capacity to offer more support to our service users, our wonderful volunteers bring a plethora of skills, experience, new ideas and perspectives to our organisation that are greatly beneficial, and we value them highly.

So, on this Volunteers Week 2024, we’d love to say a huge thank you to all our volunteers. No matter what role you do, every single one of you makes a huge difference to WomenCentre and the women that use our service – so Thank You!