Every year, volunteers from across Leeds give their time, energy and knowledge to support Advonet and the people of Leeds through a variety of roles. So far this year, they have given over 3,500 hours. There are many ways to thank volunteers for their continuing hard work and commitment, and earlier this week we held an End of Year Celebration.
The Celebration was held at Headingley’s Heart Café, where we had a spread of sandwiches, salads and cakes. We also had a quiz and a slot for all the volunteers present to give feedback about their roles.
Among the volunteers who came along to our event were several of our Learning Disability Citizen Advocates, some of Leeds Autism AIM’s volunteer Autism Mentors and Autism Hub Supporters. The event was also attended by some of our Volunteer Coordinators, our Volunteer and Peer Advocacy Manager and Chief Executive.
What they said
We got a number of quotes from the various volunteers in attendance about what they enjoyed the most about volunteering with Advonet. Here is what some of them said:
“Meeting a variety of people”
“Satisfaction knowing I have helped”
“Finding out about the various offers of Advonet”
“Being able to positively impact people’s lives”
“Helping people to achieve their goals”
“Different experience to my day job”
“Seeing my experience put to good use”
Volunteers’ suggestions
The volunteers then shared more of their thoughts about what we could do more of. Suggestions included exploring outreach self-advocacy, building links with young adults aged 16-19, publicising what Advonet do more widely and thinking of ways of recruiting more volunteers.
We would like to thank all of our volunteers for all the time, effort and support they have given to people throughout Advonet. If you’re interested in getting involved with Advonet through volunteering, or would like to find out a bit more, why not head over to our volunteers page.
