Last week, 3-9 June, we celebrated Volunteers’ Week – an annual celebration of the contribution millions of people make across the UK through volunteering.
We wanted to take the opportunity to shout as loud as we could about the amazing contribution volunteers make to our work and community. We shared lots of content throughout the week but in case you missed it, here’s a roundup.
A big thank you from our CEO and everyone at the MS Society
On the first day of Volunteers’ Week, an email from our CEO, Nick Moberly, was sent to all volunteers saying a big thank you for supporting the MS community. You can find a copy of it here.
We also had a thank you banner added to the emails of all volunteer-facing staff.
Shout outs on social media
We shared a series of 10 videos across our social media channels from our Ambassadors, Chair of Trustees, CEO, staff and a service user detailing some of the reasons we wanted to give our volunteers a shout out.
We also shared a brilliant TikTok video from the Group Coordinator of the Sheffield and Rotherham Group, Jo Mason (The Yorkshire Wife), and lots of blogs from other volunteers, so our followers could hear first-hand about the amazing things they do.
Across Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn, our Volunteers’ Week posts were viewed almost 87,000 times and were engaged with (liked/commented/shared/link clicked) almost 3,000 times.
On Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the post most viewed/interacted with was Scott Mills’ video highlighting how local groups delivered a staggering total of 2,793 group run services last year. You can watch it here.
On LinkedIn, Tom Kerridge’s video, which gave an overview of the number of volunteers we have and the areas in which they support us, received the most views/engagement. You can see what he had to say here.
And on TikTok, Sheffield and Rotherham’s Group Coordinator, Jo Mason’s video received the most views/engagement. She told us about the ways in which her group supports people in the area and why she enjoys volunteering with the MS Society. If you missed it, you can watch it here.
Staff event
During the week, we held an internal session for staff to hear from two of our groups about the services they offer. And how they’re pivotal in helping our organisation reach its goal of ‘people living well with MS’.
Big thank you to Sue Smith from the Isle of Wight Group and Simon Woodland from the Yeovil and Sherborne District Group for talking to staff about providing services to the MS community. The session received lots of positive feedback from staff, with comments including:
Thanks so much for sharing with us the amazing work of our volunteers, truly inspiring!
Thanks so much Sue and Simon. It's great to hear about the amazing services you are running with your groups! Thank you for everything you do for the MS Community.
Thank you so much for all you do, it is invaluable.
It's really great to see what goes on at the coal face. Really impressive.
Resources for volunteers to celebrate
We pulled together Volunteers' Week resources to help recognise one another and create lots of content using our new brand. These included social media post examples, guidance on recruiting on social media during the week, newsletter and press release templates, and more!
We’d love to know if you used these and how useful you found them, so we can build on them in the future. Please let us know by emailing [email protected]
