COMMUNITY-SPIRITED volunteers are being celebrated during a special week highlighting their selfless work.
This week is Volunteers’s Week - a UK-wide campaign now in its 37th year to recognise and celebrate the thousands of dedicated individuals across the nation who give up their time to help others.
Volunteers are the country’s unsung heroes who work tirelessly to support their neighbours, charities, the NHS and other groups, just for the love of it.
Their work in supporting the vaccine rollout programme has been paramount this year.
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Some of north Essex’s own heroes have had the spotlight shone on them by volunteering collective Community360, which boasts an army of almost 1,000.
One such community gem is Mick Wood, a retired former print production manager for M&S who has been volunteering for Community360 since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
Over the past year he has worked at the company’s main office in Winsley’s House, High Street, Colchester, making calls to check in with people about their wellbeing and asking if they need any help.
He then began to run other tasks such as delivering food parcels before meeting and greeting people at Colchester Hospital’s Primary Care Centre vaccination hub since January.
“I have always wanted to give something back to my community,” said Mr Wood.
“It has been great to meet new people, and make friends, like the other volunteers. It has been quite stimulating and has got the grey cells working again after being in lockdown.
“However, to see the joy from people’s faces when you have managed to help ‘make their day’ by doing something quite simple like picking up a wheelchair for them to help get around is extremely rewarding.
“To interact with most people is great, especially when you get a positive reaction back from them. I have been told I should have been on stage several times as I do love a joke when appropriate.”
Another star with the community among his best interests is Eamonn Gray who before retiring worked for 23 years with Essex Libraries. He began volunteering in July 2018.
Mr Gray lives with a rare form of Motor Neurone Disease and decided his disability would not be a barrier but a challenge. He has volunteered at the Primary Care Centre in Colchester as a meet and greeter since November 2019.
He said: “What I love about volunteering is meeting, helping and educating people of all ages with a smile and a laugh, when appropriate, and ensuring the experience they have had at any of my volunteering places is one that has made their day better.”
Meanwhile Kim Barker, an operations manager, has been volunteering for five months as a telephone buddy and four years with the Royal British Legion.
“I wanted to volunteer to help make a difference in the community and support where required to make people’s lives a little bit easier,” she said.
“Making the calls has made a big difference to people who have been isolated, and I have been able to signpost when identifying a concern.
“When I was speaking to a mother who was scared to leave her home, I made a referral for her children to attend a half-term children’s club. The mother made the short walk from her home with her children just to meet with me and say hello and thank you.
“If you are thinking of volunteering, know that whatever you are doing is making a big difference within the community.”
For more information on volunteering, go to www.community360.org.uk.
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