Next week (1-7 June 2021) is national Volunteers’ Week

A chance to recognise the fantastic contribution volunteers make to our communities and say thank you

Over the past year, volunteers have been at the forefront of the response to the Covid-19 crisis. Volunteers, both informally in their neighbourhoods and through formal organisations, have taken on countless tasks to help support those most impacted by the pandemic. From arranging shopping deliveries and providing welfare calls through to the more recent involvement in support of vaccination clinics, volunteers have made vital contributions throughout the crises and will continue to do so when attention turns to the post-pandemic recovery.

While we are not yet able to mark the amazing contributions volunteers have made through a large real-world event, we hope that we can make a splash online by joining together the say a huge thanks. Throughout Volunteers’ Week we will be sharing the reflections of some of the Team Reading volunteers who have stepped forward to help over the past year via our @rva_volunteer Twitter account using the hashtag #ThxRdgukVols.

You can support the campaign by retweeting these posts or sharing your own volunteer stories, reflections or thanks using the #ThxRdgukVols hashtag.

Tour de Thanks on Sunday 6 June – #PinYourThanks pins

In addition to this campaign, we will also be acting as a stop on the Tour de Thanks. Paul Reddish, CEO at Volunteering Matters, is undertaking a 1,000km cycle thank you tour, from Edinburgh to London and many places in between, thanking lots of incredible Covid volunteers of all kinds with some special edition #PinYourThanks pins.

Paul will be cycling solo from Edinburgh to Nottingham, where he will then collect his dad Paralympian Tim Reddish CBE for a tandem ride for the Nottingham to London stretch. They will visit local volunteering projects to say thank you, highlight their work through social media and local press and also raise money for the causes from donations along the way.

We will be arranging a welcome for Paul and Tim when they arrive in Reading on Sunday 6 June (around 12:30pm). If you or members of your volunteer team would like to be part of the welcome delegation and receive #PinYourThanks pins, please email steve.hendry@rva.org.uk for more details.