When was the last time you said ‘Thank you’?
Every year, Volunteers’ Week (this year, taking place between the 1-7 June) aims to celebrate the work of volunteers nationwide. Run by the charity Volunteering England, it is the ideal opportunity to show your appreciation to your adult Leaders, and enthuse and inspire them at the same time.
A range of events will be happening across the country and you can visit the Volunteers’ Week website to find events happening near you.
The website also has a number of free resources, such as certificates and posters, to help you organise events.
Say 'thank you' to volunteers
Why not use Volunteers’ Week as an opportunity for young people or parents to thank their Leaders?
A very positive step would be to arrange an event at which the whole of your Group (or possibly District or County) can attend, with parents and young people present.
Arranging for the parents to organise this event, with help from the young people, can make this even more worthwhile.
Link up with other Scout Groups
The week is an excellent opportunity to make links with other Scout Groups in your area, as well as to make contact with other voluntary groups.
In previous years, events such as sports or activity days have been organised on a large scale, with a mixture of groups, ages and locations.
Get some positive media coverage
An event that involves people from voluntary organisations across the community can be a good opportunity to gain positive media coverage, to show the excellent events your Scouts do and use it as a platform to recruit additional adult volunteers.
Aside from these positive effects, expanding your event collaboration experience with other local groups is an enormously worthwhile activity in itself.
All adults are motivated to be involved in Scouting by a number of different factors; however, the main thing (according to a poll by Volunteering England) that motivates people is ‘Feeling they are making a difference’ (76% of people who responded).
One way to get involved and say thank you is to collect and distribute some of our Thanks Cards available from Scout Shops. The card, which is postcard size contains within a message from the Chief Scout and allows you to write your own message on the reverse. This can be used on its own or in addition to the Thanks Badge also available from Scout Shops.
Visit the Volunteers' Week website