National Volunteer Week Blog 2021
What is National Volunteers week?
Volunteers Week takes place 1-7 June every year. It is a chance to recognise the fantastic contribution volunteers make to our communities and say thank you.
THANK YOU to All Discovery Volunteers
All our amazing Volunteers have been working together to help our communities from September 2020 to July 2021. All your hard work is vey appreciated and you are making huge differences to the people you are helping.
We are sure you will continue to do amazing things throughout the summer and leading into 2022!!
If you are interested in volunteering to help your local community, please contact Discovery Volunteering at discovery@swansea.ac.uk
What we have achieved together from 2020-2021
Since September 2020 here is the low down of what Discovery has been doing:
- 257 active volunteers volunteering on over 20 projects & one-off volunteering events.
- 5736 volunteer hours
- 177 positive postcards for NHS workers
- 180 PenPal letters exchanged between Swansea university students and community members.
- 172 treat packs sent to young people that Discovery supports in Swansea.
- 120 personalised care packages sent to disabled adults in Swansea.
- 334 phone call/ zoom support sessions with disabled adults.
- 226 community members contacted by volunteers across projects.
- 67 trained and engaged CONNECT volunteers supporting student peer mental health.
- 14 student volunteers making regular weekly phone calls to older adults as Age Cymru befrienders.
But it’s not just all about the stats. Discovery volunteers have made activity videos and digital activities for young people, hosted wellbeing lounges and other student peer activities, created community newsletters, created digital media content, supported community members with English language skills, mucked in at surfing lessons and allotments, fundraised lots of money for local charities and archived digital journals of community members real life experiences of the pandemic.
Quotes from our lovely volunteers.
“Volunteering with Discovery has really helped provide structure throughout a chaotic year, and has helped me to meet new people safely, reducing my sense of isolation caused by the pandemic. I would say to any Swansea University student 100% volunteer for Discovery. It is a great way to meet new people from different courses and years who you wouldn’t otherwise meet. There are so many opportunities, and I will definitely look back at my time at Swansea University and remember volunteering with Discovery as a major part of my experience.” Pippa Lench Psychology
“Volunteering has been so rewarding, it has allowed me to feel that I am creating a change and helping. This has made me feel happier and volunteering on the befriender service has helped with my own loneliness and isolation issues. For any students thinking of about volunteering, I say do it, for your mental health and the greater good, you feel you are achieving and helping.” Natalie Jarvis MSc Strategic Marketing
“Being a PC for a project at Discovery has been amazing! I felt supported the whole time and I especially like the fact that I was given somewhat of a free hand to do what I wanted with Digital Media Project. I like how my project and many other projects give back to community and how I was able to brighten the gloomy days of the pandemic for people in Swansea. Being a PC during a pandemic on a Digital Media project helped me find a purpose during those hard times and provided me with an opportunity to meet new people. Managing this project gave me something to do and kept me busy and focused on positive things happening around me rather than the not-so- good ones. It impacted my wellbeing tremendously and I am very grateful that I could experience this. I would say to any Swansea University student sign up and try volunteering for at least once during your time at Uni. It does not matter if you volunteer once or do over 100 hours. The most important thing is that you enjoy it and maybe gain some new skills while doing it. Discovery has a range of projects that you can sign up to and experience the amazing feeling of giving back to community and spreading positivity.” Simona, BA English Language and Media
“My favourite thing about volunteering with Discovery is its flexibility and wide range of opportunities. I know Discovery values me as a person and provides a space for all students to volunteer at a pace that is comfortable for them. I have been able to complete my studies all while having refreshing breaks volunteering and knowing I am helping out the community and its members, while also growing as an individual. I think the one thing I would pride Discovery for the most is its open-mindedness and welcoming environment. Through having a wide range of varied projects, I was able to try out new things and meet new people, including both students and community members, at the end giving me a place where I felt I belong and helping me with feeling less lonely and isolated. As a Psychology student I value work with people and have a natural desire to help others. While volunteering at Discovery I have had the opportunity to work with a wide range of people with different experiences and backgrounds such as other students, children, adults, seniors and people with different disabilities. This experience has raised my cultural and disability awareness, improved my communication skills and allowed me to become more confident in helping others, overall making me more employable. If anyone is thinking of whether or not to start volunteering with Discovery, with the wide range of projects they offer, there’s something for everyone. The worst case scenario is that you won’t like it and you will stop. But in the best case, you will gain friends for life, grow as an individual and gain valuable employability skills. So my advice is to just try!” Ilze Cimdina Psychology
“I love the structured manner of the voluntary groups and the positive impact it has on the lives of especially the vulnerable in society. I believe volunteering has improved my mental health especially during the COVID-19 lockdown period as I was able to design projects with other students and also talk to beneficiaries of Discovery’s projects. I have also benefited from a lot of training on safeguarding, dementia, communication and others which has generally improved my confidence.” Yaw Amo-Badu, MSc Public Health and Health Promotion