A big thank you to all of our volunteers at UKHarvest!
Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June 2023) is upon us, and we wanted to spend some time offering our thanks to the incredible team of volunteers we have at UKHarvest, during Volunteers’ Week and every other week of the year! And we are not alone. Across the country, charities, not-for-profit organisations, schools, community groups and more will be joining together to praise the amazing work and dedication offered daily by their committed and supportive volunteers.
Within our Chichester base, we have a total of 75 active volunteers regularly giving their time to our warehouse, kitchen, office, community hubs, events and distributing food to our partnership organisations. Last week alone, our volunteers donated a huge 120 hours of their time, a full 15 days, to ensure that UKHarvest was able to continue to do the amazing job of rescuing food and ensuring it reaches the people that need it the most.
Nourish Hub, our community kitchen based in London, has a dynamic team of volunteers that prepare, cook and serve up to an incredible 200 lunches every day. In any given day, Nourish Hub uses 30-35 hours of volunteer time across their kitchen, office, community outreach and cookery school enabling more people than ever to access the hub’s delicious meals cooked completely from rescued food.
There are many benefits to volunteering, and we regularly take the time to speak with our volunteers about how their time at UKHarvest helps and supports them. Mark and Linda, a couple who have volunteered at UKHarvest for a year now say, ‘We love being part of such a friendly, warm and enthusiastic team!’. ‘I love helping to ensure that food goes out to people who need it most’ was a fantastic comment shared by Anthony who has volunteered in the warehouse for 2 years now. A recent recruit to our team told us that they have a real love of cooking and feeding people, and in their role within the kitchen, they were able to do both and know that they were helping others with nutritious meals.
We collaborate with local organisations such as The Apuldram Centre where we have volunteers working with us each week, preparing and cooking food for our outreach programmes. The experience offers the volunteers a chance to learn new skills, work as part of a team, and experience new aspects of the charity’s work. In many cases we have been privileged to see members of our volunteer community gain amazing experience which has allowed them to obtain paid work in an area they love.
Heather who’s been with us for over 2 years told us ‘I like what UKHarvest do, and I thought I could actually make a difference by volunteering with them.’ Being involved in a charity our volunteers are passionate about has been a key motivation in joining the UKHarvest volunteer team, and in turn this allows them the opportunity to help make a difference to lives within our growing community, giving the chance to share what they’ve learnt during their working lives with all those involved with UKHarvest.
As an organization, we would not be able to run without the time and support of our incredible team of volunteers. As well as our existing volunteers, we are lucky enough to have new recruits joining our team all the time. We know that our volunteers are invaluable to our ongoing work. A huge THANK YOU to you all, we are lucky to have you!
If you, or anyone you know is interested in volunteering with UKHarvest, please get in touch with us!
volunteer@ukharvest.org.uk
