Volunteers Week

Volunteers Week

‘Aberdeen Thanks Its Volunteers’

Aberdeen City Council granted Civic Hospitality to the Aberdeen Volunteer Co-ordinators Forum to recognise Volunteers Week in Aberdeen.

The Civic Reception took place on Tuesday 5th June 2007 at the Town and County Hall.  The event was opened by the new Lord Provost Peter Stephen and there was an excellent turn-out.  CLANCY (the CLAN Mascot) was also present to welcome volunteers (see pictures  below).

Volunteers Week 2007

At the reception, there was musical entertainment from Michelle Armstrong (Volunteer with CLAN) and the charity Music 4 U.

Ailsa Duncan, Strategist (Regional), Community Planning and Regeneration with Aberdeen City Council gave an update presentation on ‘Volunteering in Aberdeen: A Rewarding Experience’. She said “We were aware that the current volunteering strategy was in need of updating.  Therefore, in partnership with voluntary and public sector organisations we aim to have a joint statement about volunteering emphasising the significant contribution volunteers make to people’s lives throughout the City.  The document is now in draft form and it will be refined over the summer with a view to being agreed by partners in the Autumn.  An action plan will also be devised to make sure that the vision contained within the document is realised and volunteering and volunteers are recognised for the contribution they make”.

An estimated 44,000 volunteers give their time volunteering in Aberdeen. Volunteers assist in over 600 volunteering opportunities across Aberdeen contributing so much and making a difference across the City. At the event, the volunteers were asked to take part in a ‘Volunteeting Calculator’ exercise where they all stated how many hours they volunteered per week and at the end of the event it was identified that these volunteers had contributed 25,420 hours alone.