The first week of June is Volunteer Week – so a good time for us to thank our dedicated volunteers, who put in a staggering 1864 hours of befriending and English tuition between 1 March 2020 – 28 February 2021.

This total was made up of:

• 629 hours of befriending support
• 1060 hours of English tuition
• 63 hours of counselling
• 35.5 hours of maths tuition
• 76.5 hours of GCSE support

It is very likely quite a lot more than this, because volunteers sometimes forget to log all of their time.

Befriending support includes video and phone calls, support with home schooling and homework, the children’s fantastic lockdown Zoom In calls, visits, outings, transport to appointments, helping with bureaucracy and medical needs, support and childcare during emergencies, delivery of supplies and goods like digital devices and furniture. Our most active volunteers spend a huge amount of their time ensuring that their befriendees and students are not in need and are enabled to become increasingly independent.

If you are interested in volunteering with us, it would be great if you could have a think about how much time you realistically have each week, then email Katy, our Business & Volunteer Coordinator – Katy will help you through the application process.

Now that the drop-in is starting up again, we need to provide lifts for families and young people on Monday afternoons, so we’d be very grateful for any offers of weekly lifts.

The image is of a fabulous puppet show put on by a group of Syrian siblings for our online New Years Day celebration.