Volunteers Week Celebration

On Friday 11th June the Volunteer Centre celebrated National Volunteers Week by hosting a volunteer party at the Argent Centre in Sunniside. All the centre's volunteers including drivers, befrienders and those involved in admin were invited to the party to celebrate their support and hard work over the last year. 

We currently have 18 volunteers who provide approximately 28 drives to service users on a weekly basis. Along with 24 volunteer befrienders who aim to carry out 90 hours of visits per week.

Queens Award for Voluntary Service

In 2002, in celebration of Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee, the Queen's Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service by Groups in the Community was established. Its purpose is to recognise groups of individuals who are giving their time freely for the benefit of others. It is the highest honour that can be bestowed upon groups of this kind and is equivalent in status to the MBE. As such, the Queen's Award not only serves to provide recognition of volunteer groups, but also demonstrates the high respect in which volunteering is held.

In common with the UK National Honours, there are no deadlines for the receipt of nomination forms. Award nominations will be considered at any point within 3 years of the nomination. Therefore, nominations should not be made for a particular year's Award. If you know of a volunteer group that devotes its time to helping others in your local community, and deserves recognition, nominate them for an award.

Nominating a group for the award

You can nominate any volunteer group if you know about the work they do. However, you can’t nominate a group that you are a part of, for example if you are a volunteer or a staff member.

Find out how to nominate a volunteer group by following the link below.

MORE INFO

ISA Vetting & Barring Scheme Put on Hold

The following information was taken directly from the ISA website.

In its recent document ‘The Coalition: Our programme for government’, the Government set out its aim to ‘review the criminal records and vetting and barring regime and scale it back to common sense levels’.

In order to deliver this promise and carry out the remodeling, the Vetting and Barring Scheme will be halted. The first phase of registration was due to commence on 26 July 2010.

Although the Scheme is halted whilst the Government undertakes its review, new safeguarding regulations introduced in October 2009 continue to apply. These include:

A person who is barred from working with children or vulnerable adults will be breaking the law if they work or volunteer, or try to work or volunteer with those groups.

An organisation which knowingly employs someone who is barred to work with those groups will also be breaking the law.

If your organisation works with children or vulnerable adults and you dismiss a member of staff or a volunteer because they have harmed a child or vulnerable adult, or you would have done so if they had not left, you must tell the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

In October 2009, the right to ask for an enhanced CRB disclosure was extended to all those who employ or use volunteers in types of activity called ‘Regulated Activity’. This right remains, and you should continue to carry out appropriate pre-recruitment checks, including CRB checks where appropriate or required by law.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority will continue to carry out its work as an independent decision making body as well as continuing to maintain the barred lists, they will also continue to accept referrals.

For more information: www.isa-gov.org.uk 

Volunteer Centre Summer Awareness Event

We are hosting a Summer Volunteering Awareness Event and would like to invite your organisation to attend.

The event is aimed at volunteers to show them the vast range of volunteering opportunities available and enables organisations to recruit for the volunteering roles they currently have available. 

We would like to show potential volunteers a practical display of what's available, therefore we will be having  a Nintendo Wii display, a vehicle from the Volunteer Life Brigade, a large scale model of the Venerable Bede, arts and crafts activities, a sporting display, messy play, conservation activities and a medieval woodturning display in period costume.

         The event will take place on:

             Tuesday 17 August 2010

         Seaburn Centre, Whitburn Road, Sunderland, SR6 8AA  

1.00 PM until 4 .00PM

Organisations will need to have set up no later than 12:30 PM.  We will be there from about 11 AM should you wish to set up early.

If you would like to attend please download and complete the booking form found below and indicate whether you are able to provide an activity or demonstration and

return it to us as soon as possible please. 

BOOKING FORM

Should you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact Sharon Charlton on (0191) 567 8902.

Volunteering England launches two volunteer management initiatives

New Support Resource for People Managing Volunteers

Volunteering England’s new Volunteer Management Portal, launched this today, acts as a gateway to the world of volunteer management with links to over a thousand resources across England.

This means that - for the first time - information on support, training and development opportunities for people managing volunteers is available to view in one single place.

If you work with volunteers, or know someone who does, this invaluable new resource will help you locate a wide variety of training providers and consultants, support and development opportunities.

Visit the portal at http://www.volunteering.org.uk/vmportal

A different kind of investment – what does your organisation stand to gain?

Volunteering England today launched the Value Volunteer Management Campaign to increase awareness of the value and importance of investing in volunteer management. Many key organisations have already shown support, including the BBC, Microsoft, Barnardo’s, RSPB, National Trust and PDSA.

These organisations know that investing in professional and strategic volunteer management really boosts the value they gain from volunteering, leading to increased budgets, raised organisational profile, strengthened service provision, improved community relations and much, much more.

Visit the campaign site at http://www.volunteering.org.uk/valuevolunteermanagement and find out what your organisation stands to gain. You can show your commitment to volunteer management by signing the online endorsement, or by providing a quote or case study.

Both these initiatives are funded by the Office for Civil Society as part of Capacitybuilders’ Volunteer Management Programme.

For portal related enquiries please contact VMportal@volunteeringengland.org

To find out more about the campaign contact valueVM@volunteeringengland.org  

Follow us on Twitter - http://twitter.com/VEVolManagement

Read our Volunteer Management Blog on i-Volunteer

Walk a mile in her shoes

As it’s Race for Life time we thought we’d give men the chance to volunteer and participate in an event for breast cancer this year.

On Friday 9th July at 12 noon lots of guys will be will be joining Springboard Sunderland's
vinvolved Team to walk a mile in women's high heel shoes from Roker café to Morrisons to raise money for Cancer Research UK. ( Elastoplasts will be provided free of charge)

Why not get a team together and give it a go.

If you would like to support this venture by joining in, please ring for a sponsor form or if you care to donate some women's high heel shoes size 9 to 11. Please ring Brian or Alex 0191 5518241

SAINSBURY’S UK SCHOOL GAMES

A big thank you goes to all those who have already committed their time to help volunteer at this year’s Sainsbury’s UK School Games from the 2nd – 5th September.  The UK School Games is a legacy of the London 2012 Olympics and sees around 1600 of the best young sporting talent from across Great Britain competing in what is rapidly becoming one of the major events in the UK sporting calendar.  

10 sports are competed in across Tyne and Wear with Sunderland hosting swimming, table tennis and fencing.

There are still a number of exciting volunteering opportunities available to get involved in the Games. 

Media Assistant:

Your role will be to help the media manager develop potential news stories from the athletes, to upload pictures, send Twitter and Facebook messages, and assist with the management of the Media Centre ensuring all media attendees are registered and have all event information. Ideally volunteers for this role should be currently studying a journalism course or are of a media background, however this is not essential.

Drivers

This is a key role for the games.  We’re looking for people who have expert local knowledge of driving around Sunderland, Gateshead and Newcastle and are good at communicating with people on a personal level.  Drivers are required for the duration of the event to work with the assigned transport company. Volunteers must be over the ages of 25 years and have a full clean driving license.

Your role will see you transport VIPs such as Olympic silver medallist Darren Campbell, event staff, welfare officers, officials and others associated with the UK School Games between competition venues, hotels and transport stations.  You will drive either one of the competitions Mini-buses or fleet cars.

Venue Specific Volunteers

If you have a passion for one of the ten sports or fancy getting to know a new sport then this role is for you.  You will support one of the 10 sports to ensure the event runs smoothly.  The role will see you take up a number of roles including ticket and programme selling, accreditation of athletes and coaches, medal ceremonies spectator services and court side assistant.  This role is right at the heart of the Games and is a great way to experience the whole feel of an international sporting event.

Volunteers do not have to commit themselves to attend all 4 days but ideally should be available to commit to two days to help create a strong team atmosphere and work ethic.   When completing the application you can tick which days and times you are available to volunteer.

All volunteers will get free UK School Games Adidas kit to the value of £100, will be invited to a post games volunteers awards and celebration night at the Baltic and have a fantastic experience in one of the premier sporting events in the UK.

If you feel that you would like to get involved please contact the Volunteer Centre for an application form by Tuesday 29th June.

FREE

SKILLS FOR LIFE TRAINING FOR YOUR WORKFORCE & VOLUNTEERS

To the attention of employers and HR departments

What is Skills for Life?

Skills for Life is the national strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy skills.  All literacy and numeracy are free for employees through the Train to Gain initiative

Who is it for?

All employees! Employees with qualifications and employees without qualifications including supervisors and junior managers who wish to brush up on some aspects of literacy or numeracy.

How do you do it?

Tuition for each test last about 12 hours.

Tuition will be organised to suit the employer and the employee.

Tuition can be in the workplace, in one of our Centres or a local venue.

Skills for Life Certificates are available at levels of learning to suit the learners.

Why get involved?

Skills for Life is a practical approach that offers an effective solution to meeting organisational improvements and business objectives, such as:

•    meeting health and safety requirements
•    increasing productivity and improving quality
•    achievement of mandatory training, e.g. NVQ
•    reducing absenteeism
•    reducing errors/wastage
•    improving customer relations
•    contributing to Investors in People award
•    being seen as a learning organisation.

What are the results?

•    A confident, flexible and skilled workforce, responsive to change, leading to effectiveness and efficiency.
•    An opportunity for employees to modernise, consolidate and maintain skills and acquire new qualifications.
•    Employee confidence to access other training and progression opportunities within the workplace.

Contact Kathryn Lamb for more details on 0191 4956241