Celebrating 10 years of Volunteering this Volunteers’ Week 

Monday June 2 - Sunday 8 June is national Volunteers’ Week - a time to celebrate the people who generously give their time, skills and compassion to make things better for others. At YWCA Yorkshire, this Volunteers’ Week also marks the ten-year anniversary of our volunteer-supported charity shop and a decade of service from four incredible individuals. 

YWCA Yorkshire launched its official Volunteer Programme in 2019 having successfully worked with volunteers from local employers, community and faith groups and through charity shops for many years. The aim was to grow a team of people that could help with the charity’s mission to create better futures for women, children and families, and to offer accessible and valuable opportunities, training and skills development to local people.  

Now in its sixth year, the Volunteer Programme works with 15 volunteers in a variety of roles including admin, befriending, maintenance, housekeeping and fundraising. The YWCA Yorkshire charity shop in Shiregreen is supported by 9 regular volunteers, and the money they raise collectively helps fund homeless young women and their children in Sheffield’s young women’s homeless hostel, Peile House. 

Since launching, the YWCA Yorkshire Volunteer Programme has supported people into paid employment, skills training and education. Through personal development and mentoring initiatives, volunteers have accessed person-centred wellbeing and mental health services and learnt essential self-care and communication skills.  

YWCA Yorkshire volunteers have made a difference to thousands of young women and children accessing safe housing and trauma-informed professional services in South Yorkshire. 

YWCA Yorkshire Volunteer Coordinator, Nicole Cannon, said: “This Volunteers’ Week I want to give a special mention to people like Sue, Ann, Parahin and Adrian who have volunteered with us for ten years in the YWCA Yorkshire charity shop. This week we’re holding a ten-year birthday party at the shop, which is also a vital hub for befriending, community building and signposting support services in South Yorkshire. 

Volunteers’ Week is a time for us all to thank the millions of people who fit volunteering into their family and work life and who actively overcome their own challenges, to make communities better for others. At YWCA Yorkshire, we see first-hand the impact that this generosity and compassion can have on the lives of women, children and families.”