As the Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh and English governments plan to reduce or remove COVID-19 restrictions in the coming weeks, we’re continuing to review how we support groups to restart face-to-face services and activities, if they wish to.
We’re delighted that the gradual easing of lockdown has meant we can support a return to some group fundraising activities, such as street and store collections. But, with fewer people now carrying cash, it’s more important than ever for us to have an effective solution for receiving donations by card.
Before the pandemic, we had encouraged the use of iZettle devices, but it became clear that these weren’t meeting our needs across the organisation. And, now that iZettle are owned by PayPal, it’s no longer possible for groups to have their own, separate, accounts.
When someone visits our website and uses the local search function, they’ll be given a list of events and services available in their area.
However, events and services which do not have a valid postcode won’t appear in the ‘Near me’ local services search. This means that, where an online activity has been added to the Portal using N/A or ‘virtual’ in the postcode field, it won’t be displayed to the person searching.
Congratulations to our Mutual Support Group who have been nominated as one of three finalists in the Family Values category of this year's Soldiering On Awards (Armed Forces Community Awards).
Mutual Support started 30 years ago to support serving and ex-serving members of the Armed Forces affected by MS, as well as their dependants and carers. It’s the only MS group to offer tailored support and guidance for the specialist and geographical needs of the military community.
On Thursday 22 July, we’ll be joining the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) and the MS International Federation (MSIF) to mark World Brain Day.
This years’ theme is dedicated to MS, with a focus on sharing vital information about the signs, symptoms, and treatment of MS.
World Brain Day provides an opportunity to highlight the urgent need for early diagnosis of MS and advocate for access to health care, education, research, and effective treatments.
Back in 2017, a review of the holiday homes we managed through our group network found that we lacked the resources to train, supervise and support the volunteers that ran them. This lack of oversight exposed us to legal and financial risks, and placed additional responsibility and pressure on the volunteers. We therefore decided that, as other organisations are better placed to offer this service, the MS Society should stop running holiday homes.
Our risk management system ensures that everyone who takes part in your events and activities, visits your property, or uses your transport can feel confident that we take their health, safety and wellbeing seriously.
Our volunteers play an incredible role supporting the MS community across the UK, and we want to ensure that volunteering is a positive experience for everyone.
There are rare times, however, where volunteers are unhappy with their experience, and where an issue about volunteering needs to be addressed. An example of this could be where the Code of Conduct is not followed. You can see our Code of Conduct here.
World MS Day had the theme of ‘connections’ this year and we focussed on ways our community has been staying connected. We also celebrated Volunteers’ Week and shared stories about how our volunteers have helped people to stay connected with their community. And for Carers Week, we focussed on this year’s theme of 'Making Caring Visible and Valued'.
To celebrate these important awareness dates, we shared lots of content across our channels to raise awareness of MS.
This year we’re holding MS Walks in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Bristol and Manchester. Together, we’re aiming to raise over £300,000 for the Stop MS Appeal.
Each event will have 1km, 5km, 10km or 20km routes to choose from, which can be walked, rolled or strolled at any pace. You can also join an event as a volunteer, either individually or as part of a group. There are lots of roles available, such as being a marshal along the route, handing out water and snacks, or just cheering everyone on.
To sign up for a walk, or to volunteer at one, just click on a location below:
