The Buckinghamshire Volunteer Matching Service has placed its 2000th volunteer in the county since it was set up in 2020 in response to the pandemic.
The Volunteer Matching Service (now Volunteer Bucks as of September 2024) places registered volunteers where they are most needed in the county. Anyone who is 16 or over can sign-up to the service which finds volunteer roles to suit their preferences such as location, type of role, interests, and availability.
“Hitting this milestone is a great reflection of the volunteering ethos we see across the county every week,” commented Stephanie Thompson, Community Impact Bucks’ volunteer brokerage lead. “Whether you are an experienced volunteer or you are trying out volunteering for the first time, our matching team can help you find a role which works for you. As volunteers themselves, the team have hands-on experience of what is involved and know how important it is to find a role that is right for each person.”
Evie is the 2000th volunteer to be matched by the Volunteer Matching Service. She has started the onboarding process for two roles supporting Bucks residents: with NSPCC as a Speak out Stay safe volunteer, delivering workshops in primary schools to teach children about the different types of abuse and how they can speak out and stay safe. The other role is with Macmillan Cancer Support as a Buddy Lead volunteer, to help with the Macmillan Buddy service which provides a lifeline for people with cancer. Read her full story on the Community Impact Bucks website.
“I’m stepping into next chapter of my life through these volunteering roles, and I’m looking forward to getting started, to do some good and to an exciting future,” said Evie. “The Volunteer Matching Service has been a springboard for me. I know I’m not yet ready to be in paid employment, as I’m still in a transition period, so when I was looking at what else I can do with my time, the Volunteer Matching Service was the ideal place for me to turn to.”
In the past four years, the Volunteer Matching Service has:
- Matched 2000 volunteers whose volunteer hours are collectively worth over £570,000.
- Supplied essential volunteers for 143 local not-for-profit organisations in the county.
- Provided 116 volunteers to Buckinghamshire NHS Trust to help in our hospitals.
- Matched more than 100 befriender volunteers to Enrych to support disabled adults.
- Matched more than 100 volunteers to Lindengate, a Wendover based health and wellbeing charity.
- Filled a wide range of roles from mentoring, community transport or support for the elderly, to the more unusual such as Police Custody Visitors, Puppy Raisers and Waste Reduction volunteers.
The Volunteer Matching Service currently has over 800 volunteer vacancies ready to be filled across Buckinghamshire – from frontline emergency response positions with the South-Central Ambulance Service, befriending and mentoring opportunities with charities such as Bucks Vision, to outdoor roles or those supporting vulnerable members of the community.
The volunteers who have already used the Service report that their volunteering has helped them develop new skills, gain experience, and improve their self-esteem, confidence and wellbeing. Above all, the volunteers value being able to make a difference to the community. Feedback on volunteering roles include:
- “It gives me a purpose in life and provides me with activity and companionship.”
- “I’m getting some valuable knowledge on craft which is a totally new experience for me. Loving it.”
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Notes to editors
- For any media enquiries, please contact Rachel or Chanel at Community Impact Bucks comms@communityimpactbucks.org.uk/ 01844 617216.
- Community Impact Bucks is a local charity that supports people and groups to get involved and make Buckinghamshire a better place to live. We do this in three ways: by helping people find volunteering opportunities; advising charities and other not-for-profit groups on all aspects of running their organisation; and by directly supporting those most in need in our Buckinghamshire communities.
- Buckinghamshire Volunteer Matching Service is now closed and has been replaced by the Volunteer Bucks platform. Run by Community Impact Bucks, the Volunteer Bucks platform enables organisations and volunteers to contact each other directly.
- A selection of volunteer stories can be found on ‘Our success stories’ webpage.
- The volunteering hours value of £570,000+ has been calculated using the minimum time commitment (in hours) specified for each role that a volunteer was matched to, multiplied by the National Living Wage. The real value is likely to be much higher as many volunteers continue in their roles long after the minimum time commitment.
