Volunteering Focus - 04 December

The festive season is a time for reflection and gratitude, and there’s no better opportunity to celebrate the incredible contributions of your volunteers. Thoughtful gestures, both big and small, can make them feel appreciated. Start with personalised thank-you cards. Acknowledging specific ways they’ve made a difference—whether it’s their reliability, compassion, or creative ideas—shows that their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.

Consider organising a festive event, such as a coffee morning, lunch, or an informal gathering, where you can thank them in person and foster a sense of community. Small tokens of appreciation, like handmade gifts, local goodies, or even certificates of recognition, can have a lasting impact.

Don't forget the power of shared moments: invite volunteers to share stories or memories from the year, and use these testimonials to highlight their positive impact in newsletters or at end-of-year meetings. Remember, your gratitude doesn’t need to be expensive or elaborate—it just needs to be heartfelt. Making time to say a sincere “thank you” will leave your volunteers feeling valued and ready to continue their important work in the year ahead.

Recognising and Valuing your Volunteers

Volunteer Trends

As we approach the end of 2024, Charity Digital have put together a great guide for the likely volunteering trends next year. From creating flexible opportunities to making volunteering accessible to everyone, we look at some of the volunteering trends for the year ahead. Read more here - Charity Digital - Topics - Volunteering trends for 2025

December is our busiest month of the year here at St Mirren Charitable Foundation, and we have a VERY busy schedule of events which means we will need to enlist the help of lots of Santa's Buddies to volunteer their time and spread some Christmas cheer. 

We kick off this year's celebrations with our annual Festive Tea Party at the SMiSA Stadium, on Friday 13th December, from 1pm - 4pm. The Tea Party is high energy and full of Christmas spirit with live musicians, dancing and sing-a-long. Our guests will be treated to a delicious afternoon tea and we may even have some special guests dropping by to join in the festivities. 

We are delighted to announce that we will once again be delivering Festive Friends, in partnership with the SPFL Trust, on Christmas Day. Our amazing team of staff and volunteers will deliver hot festive meals, yummy food hampers and gifts to elderly people in our community who are lonely and isolated and vulnerable local families experiencing financial hardship. Deliveries will take place between 12 noon and 3pm, then it's time to clear the decks and have the club spick and span as we take on Rangers, at home, on Boxing Day.

To make our Festive Tea Party and Christmas Day deliveries a success, we need a team of volunteers. We are looking for buddies to help before Christmas Day, week commencing Mon 16th - Fri 20th Dec, with hamper filling and gift wrapping. On Christmas Day we require helpers for our catering team and drivers to deliver meals, hampers, and gifts plus make check-in calls on Christmas Day.

If you know friends or family who would like to volunteer, please share this form with them:
Festive Friends Volunteers 2024

We are on the lookout for volunteers for upcoming collections, we will provide branded tabards and collection buckets, and volunteers are welcome to wear something festive to get in the spirit:
 

• Thursday 12 and Friday 13 December - Santa’s Grotto at XSite from 10:00 – 17:00 - Ideally looking for volunteers for 2 hour shifts throughout the day. This event is all set with their Santa, and they’ve welcomed us to collect donations! We’ll only need a few extra hands on these days, so let us know if you’re available to join in the fun.

• Sunday 15 December - Glasgow Central Station with Imperial Garrison & Rock Choir from 10:00 – 13:00 - Ideally looking for volunteers for 2 hour shifts throughout the day. Join us at Glasgow Central, where we’re being joined by the Imperial Garrison again after a great turnout last time. This is sure to be a lively event filled with festive cheer!

• Thursday 19 December - Morrisons Johnstone from 10:00 – 17:00 - Ideally looking for volunteers for 2 hour shifts throughout the day. An essential spot to spread holiday cheer - come join us for some festive collections!

• Friday 20 December - Tesco Linwood from 10:00 – 17:00 -  Ideally looking for volunteers for 2 hour shifts throughout the day. Thorn Primary School choir will be performing a few songs, creating a wonderful holiday atmosphere. We usually have two volunteers at each door, so let us know if you’re available.

 If you’re able to volunteer at any of these events, please reach out to the fundraising team – fundraising@svh.co.uk.
 
Thank you in advance for helping us make this festive season unforgettable for our community!

Festive Volunteering with FoodTrain

Food Train need some extra volunteer support over the Christmas period – Volunteer Grocery Shopper and Driver roles available on Monday 23 and Monday 30 December! Food Train is an award winning charity providing services to older people who are no longer able to manage independently, through age, ill health, frailty or disability. More info here - Volunteer Grocery Shopper for older residents of Renfrewshire.

Please register your interest by Monday09 December to allow us time to plan deliveries.
www.thefoodtrain.co.uk

Knowledge Event - What we do together: the relationship between volunteering and other activities

Date: Thursday 12th December, 10 – 11:30am
Cost: FREE
Location: Online, via Zoom

Join Volunteer Scotland for an interactive event where Dr David Bomark will share insights from his PhD research on what makes volunteering unique compared to hobbies, sports, and activism. The event aims to bridge the gap between academia and practitioners, inviting you to react to the findings and share your own experiences. David’s presentation will be followed by two breakout sessions with six engaging topics to choose from:

1. Volunteering as a Social Good: Partnering with GPs and support workers to engage volunteers.
2. Volunteering as an Accessible Space: How people find their way to volunteering.
3. Changing Forms of Volunteering: Blurring the lines between volunteer, participant, and beneficiary.
4. Comparing Volunteering with Other Activities: What unique aspects does volunteering offer?
5. Generational Volunteering Differences: How should the voluntary sector adapt to generational shifts in volunteering practices?
6. Professionalisation of the Sector: Is it a positive evolution or a challenge?

Book your space here:
Knowledge Event - What We Do Together: The relationship between volunteering and other activities - Volunteer Scotland

Exciting news, The Digital in Volunteering Toolkit launches this week! This toolkit is packed with resources to help organisations effectively use digital tools to enhance their volunteer programs. The Digital in Volunteering Toolkit tackles big questions for the future, such as: How can we prepare for the impact of AI? In what ways can digital help us be more inclusive? What exactly is open data, and how can it add value?
 
Here's how you can get involved:

• Join us at the launch event! It's free and you can secure your place now, here
• Share the launch announcement: On December 5th at 3pm, we'll be sharing the toolkit across our social media channels and website, as well as our Online Launch event, with a panel of distinguished sector guests talking about their IT nightmares and successes.
• Spread the word in your communities: Let your contacts in the volunteering sector know about this valuable resource and the launch event.
• To help you spread the word and understand the toolkit, we have shared an exclusive first look, please get in touch with Louise to access the resource

Funding from Community Justice

This is an exciting opportunity for any groups currently working with those in and around the justice system, as well as an opportunity for groups looking to diversify their support to reach, and include this community. Read the Guidance here

The CJGS Population Profile is a useful document to help you see where the support you currently offer could be developed to include individuals involved in the justice system at different stages of intervention/support.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your project idea, please contact Jamie Gardyne - jamie.gardyne@renfrewshire.gov.uk.

You can also complete this expression of interest form - https://forms.office.com/e/MV93VPp14e

Please submit your expression of interest by 03 Dec 2024.