Celebrating the vital work of volunteers like Mandy
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Volunteers’ Week is an annual campaign is run by the NCVO, a member organisation that champions the voluntary sector. Research shows the most common reason people give for why they volunteer is to improve things and to help others.
One such volunteer is Mandy Binns, who is a volunteer co-ordinator at The Northfield Centre in Stafford, which is part of The Wrekin Housing Group.
The community centre, on Magnolia Avenue, off Cooperative Street, provides a range of facilities and services, including Stepping Stones Café; a dance school and IT training suite; Staffordshire County Council Occupational Health service and a number of rooms for hire. The centre also offers volunteering roles and work placements and help people to develop new employability skills.
Mandy’s role is to manage the volunteers who work at the centre. Even though she has only been volunteering for six months, Mandy has built the role from scratch, from developing policies to overseeing and supporting the volunteers.
She said: “Volunteering is something I have been passionate about for a long time. I used to be a medical secretary but had to give up work 15 years ago to support my two disabled children, both of whom have autism.
“This led to me working voluntarily to run the Stafford branch of The National Autistic Society. This involved recruiting volunteers and running family events and parent groups and children’s activities. I also ran a parent forum for parents of disabled children, which offered a voice for feeding back to the services which they used.
“Volunteering has been a confidence boost to me and I’ve done things which I wouldn’t have dreamt of such as public speaking.
“I really enjoy my role as a volunteer co-ordinator at The Northfield Centre. It’s great to be able to help and support our volunteers.”
Jane Godfrey, Chef Manager for The Northfield Centre, said: “Mandy has been a great addition to the team. She has a huge amount of experience, which is invaluable to the volunteers in the Café. Our volunteers are often flexible with the hours that they work which can take the pressure off at busy times like Friday lunchtimes. It’s great to have the help and also see the confidence which working can bring to people.”
Anyone interested in learning more about volunteering should contact the centre on info@northfieldcentre.co.uk or call 01785 248733.
5th June 2019