On 5th December at St. Georges Shopping Centre in Harrow Town Centre, VAH celebrated International Volunteers Day (IVD2012) by organising a Volunteers Fair. We got back on Wednesday and thought a day is not enough time to celebrate and thank all the work volunteers do. We need at least a week. If you agree with us tweet:
“Why have a day when you can have a week” @UN please turn #IVD2013 to #IVW2013 to thank all the #Volunteers!
To celebrate International Volunteers Day we invited local volunteer organisations to come and have a stall in St Georges Shopping Centre to inform the public of volunteering opportunities with in Harrow. We were joined by Mind in Harrow, Friends of St. Marks Hospital, Harrow Mencap, Volunteer Centre Harrow, HASVO (Harrow Association for Somali Voluntary Organisations) who all came to inform the general public about the local volunteering opportunities and celebrate their volunteers.
A big thank you to all those involved for helping us celebrate this special occasion and for all the people in Harrow who signed up there name to volunteer.
Thanks to all the Volunteers out there!
Caren Duhig has also written a fantastic poem about her volunteering experiences:
Coming Home…
I had just graduated and was at a loose end,
Existing on benefits, and in need of some friends,
Single mum to a baby, in a private rented flat,
Saw years ahead of me, spent just like that!
After dropping her to nursery I had nowhere to go,
My life was so mundane, and I felt damn so low.
So I popped down the Job-Centre, just by the Hill,
And was directed to volunteering, which gave me the will!
After chatting to Sarah, I was so excited,
And my hopes for the future were permanently ignited!
So I worked as an editor of VHorizon, our newsletter,
And my skills and my prospects grew gradually better!
I used new programmes in Photoshop and Word,
And learned new types of software that once seemed blurred.
I held interviews, edited docs, and printed final pieces,
And smoothed over the fabric of my life’s folded creases.
Feeling upbeat, dynamic, and full of hype,
I communicated my joy though Facebook and Skype!
I loved being a parent and a valued volunteer,
And both of these responsibilities I held very dear.
Being a volunteer offered me a new way of thinking,
A challenge to focus on, which held me up when I was sinking.
When employers see volunteering on my Curriculum Vitae,
They’re very impressed and rarely turn me away.
It’s given me something to strive to, a goalpost in which to score,
Because for my baby and myself, I know I want much more.
I’ve met so many friends along the way, people who I hold dear,
I feel like part of a family, surrounded by people who care.
It’s helped me find a place in my community, a standing of my own
Now I can give something back to Harrow, a town that I call home.
