Local Charity chosen to deliver new national volunteering programme.
Lee Malkin (left) Sports Development Manager with Susan Whiteley (right) Everybody Volunteer at Everybody Health and Leisure
Everybody Health and Leisure has been selected as one of 10 trusts across the country, to deliver a brand new Sport England funded volunteering programme, as part of phase 2 of the Active Kindness project.
Community Leisure UK (CLUK) and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) have partnered up to ensure that the Active Kindness project makes a difference to volunteers across the country.
The Active Kindness project believes volunteers can be the link between their community and local physical activity opportunities. Active Kindness wants Trusts and volunteers to make a bigger difference together in their communities through new ways of working, better volunteer experiences and new volunteer roles.
Bryony Hudson, Active Kindness Programme Manager for Community Leisure UK, said:
“Partnership working is at the heart of Community Leisure UK and demonstrated perfectly by the Active Kindness programme. With NCVO and Sport England’s support, CLUK is providing a comprehensive programme of learning about volunteering to our two cohorts of participating trusts.
We are equipping them with the knowledge and tools required to take their volunteering programmes to the next level. Volunteering is such an under-appreciated aspect of the incredible work done by leisure trusts; we are delighted to provide the funding, time and space for trusts to really explore the possibilities available through their volunteering offering and to embed volunteering within the heart of their trusts.”
Everybody Health and Leisure currently have a volunteer programme in place which supports 70 volunteers who help deliver a wide range of activities, including swimming lessons, walks leaders, helping in the café, supporting disability and inclusion activities and helping with holiday activities.
Currently, Everybody Health and Leisure have had 46,071 recorded volunteer hours since the trust began in 2014, and they are working towards their ambitious volunteer target of reaching 50k by the end of the year.
Lee Malkin Sports Development Manager at Everybody Health and Leisure shares
“We are proud to have been selected as one of the trusts for the Active Kindness project and excited to be working with the organisations involved. This is a great project to be a part of as it is enabling us to review all our current processes, ensuring they are robust and fit for the future.
It is also helping us launch a new volunteer role ‘Community Connectors’ which aims to bring the community together to participate in physical activity, whilst socialising and having fun. We are committed to develop and in some part reinvent the volunteer scheme to ensure longevity and be fit for purpose.”
Everybody’s aim is to provide safe and rewarding volunteer opportunities to local residents, giving them leisure industry experience, opportunities to socialise and help improve their mental wellbeing.
Lee Malkin continues
“Volunteering has many benefits; however, the key benefits of this role are the social and physical elements. The Community Connector role is looking to help reduce social isolation of people within our community, but will also reduce isolation for the volunteer themselves, as our sport and activity sessions focus around being social and fun. Our aim with this role is to encourage people to come together, feeling safe to do so, and meet new friends in a social environment.”
If you would like to give something back to your community, encourage people to be active, help people to socialise and reduce isolation, offer a welcoming smile with lots of laughter, Everybody’s Community Connector role could just be the role for you. As a connector, you will be making the difference. You can find out more about the role here.
Ends.
Notes to Editor
Everybody Health and Leisure is a registered charity which aims to provide ‘leisure for life’ by improving the health and wellbeing of local communities. The charity operates 16 leisure facilities including 9 swimming pools and 7 Taste for Life cafes across the Cheshire East region, and delivers a range of targeted health, sports and disability and inclusion programmes. For more information please visit: www.everybody.org.uk or follow on Twitter @ebleisure.
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