We’re celebrating the amazing work that volunteers around Edinburgh are doing in and around the city to commemorate Volunteer’s Week Scotland.
Various valuable volunteers striving to support a range of causes based in Edinburgh have opened up about their selfless efforts as Volunteers Week Scotland 2022 is well underway.
This year is the campaign’s fifth year of operating as a subdivision from the UK wide programme, which has been running since 1984, and dedicates a full week commencing June 1 each year to commemorating and promoting charitable organisations from across the country.
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CEO of Volunteer Scotland Alan Stevenson says: “Our society is greatly improved through countless volunteering contributions, made each and every day, including acts of kindness between individuals.”
“All of us experience the benefits of organisations of volunteering. It’s important for us to take the time during this week and beyond to say thank you to all volunteers.”
Edinburgh Live caught up with a few of the cities heartfelt heroes to find out more about what volunteering means to them.
Brooke, 30, serves her local community of Tranent and all across East Lothian by helping out with the running of an in-house pantry that strives to accommodate emergency food parcels to those who need them after taking up the role in a bid to strengthen her own mental health.
The organisation aims to assist families, single parents and individuals by operating under a communal approach which Brookes says helped her to stabilise her mind by allowing her to interact socially every day.
Brooke says: “I began volunteering in April 2021. I started to get my mental health back on track. I also wanted to get out and meet new people and help them in any way I could in difficult times. I love it!”
“It has been a great experience for me and a massive eye opener of just how important our community pantry is. I meet new people every day. I’ve learned many new skills and it nurtures my mental health. I feel useful and valued.”
Israel, 38, first became aware of the foundation that he volunteers for after experiencing their goodwill on a personal level when he first arrived in Scotland from El Salvador as a refugee.
His involvement with Bikes For Refugees, which have a community hub in the capital, started when the charity provided himself and his family with upcycled bikes which had been donated to the charity for the purpose of free distribution to refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Scotland.
Israel has successfully completed a Code Your Future course to improve his knowledge surrounding software development to utilise within his new role of alerting refugees when their bikes are fully refurbished.
He has expressed his gratitude for all the support he has received since relocating to Scotland and says: “I wanted to give something back to the community and organisations that support New Scots.”
Donald, 57, volunteers for the same charity as a bike mechanic and says that his role has given him the chance to “meet people from different countries and cultures that you wouldn’t necessarily meet and help them settle to a new life in Scotland.”
“It’s great seeing how happy folk are,” Donald says and describes that he’s always “seeing weans physically jumping up and down with excitement when people come to collect their bikes.”
Another Bikes For Refugees volunteer, Siraj, 24, simply sums up to anyone who is thinking about joining their team of volunteers: “come try one hour and you won’t regret it!”
