On 16 March, the Government told us all to increase social distancing and avoid non-essential contact. We responded to this by asking our local groups to suspend all services and activities involving face-to-face contact between volunteers/service providers and people affected by MS.

If, like millions of others, you have spent much of lockdown in the kitchen, perfecting delicious baked goods, here’s a perfect opportunity to show off your skills - whilst raising dough to help stop MS. If you’re more of an eater than a baker, just fake it by buying some sweet treats instead.

We hope that you all had a great Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June 2020). We certainly enjoyed expressing our gratitude for everything that you do for the organisation and all our service users.

Here is a round up of all great messages and stories we had a pleasure posting throughout the week, highlighting your brilliance, commitment and impact.

We opened up a week with a message from our CEO, Nick Moberly, and Chair of Trustees, Nick Winser. You can read that message here.

Carers Week is an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlight the challenges unpaid carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK. It also helps people who don't think of themselves as having caring responsibilities to identify as carers and access much-needed support.

This Volunteers’ Week, we wanted to highlight some of the great things you’ve been up to over the past year.

Our volunteers are involved in so many incredible events, activities, campaigns and more, that we don’t have the space to highlight them all. But, to give a flavour of what your fellow volunteers have been up to, we just wanted to showcase a few.

What you’ve been up to

Since the last Volunteers’ Week, you’ve all been incredibly busy so we wanted to showcase a few of the great activities you’ve been involved in...

This is an unsettling time for everyone, and we really appreciate all that you are doing to continue to support the needs of our MS community. But it’s equally important for us to know what you need, so we can support you in the best possible way.

During the lockdown we’ve been thinking about new ways to raise funds for our rapid response to the crisis.

This morning, 8 June, we launched the MS Society Never Alone Silent Auction, where anyone and everyone is welcome to bid on some incredible prizes! We’re offering some ‘money can’t buy’ virtual experiences, giving our bidders the opportunity to receive masterclasses with well-known names in business, entertainment and sport.

These include:

We know the COVID-19 outbreak has made life incredibly tough for many people, especially in the MS community. The virtual My MS Walk will help people stay active, be part of a virtual community and raise life-changing funds for MS research.

You can get involved in My MS Walk wherever and whenever you like, even if you are shielding at home, as we know many people in the MS community are. It doesn’t matter whether you walk up and down the stairs, roll around your garden or stroll through the park.

The long-term impact of COVID-19 will be significant and we need to adapt and change now to make sure we’re prepared for the future.

At this difficult time in lockdown, finding opportunities for contact with other people is more important than ever.

We’re working to ensure that everyone affected by MS gets up-to-date information, practical help and new ways to connect – wherever they are.