There are plenty of reasons to volunteer and all of them are good, wether you’re volunteering out of the goodness of your heart or for personal gain. There are loads of reasons people volunteer such as filling in their spare time, reaching out to the community or just getting references for jobs.

There are lots of different things you can get involved with, and volunteering can help you to:

What is volunteering?

Volunteering is anything you do that helps other people or the community beyond your own family. You do it because you choose to and not for financial gain.

Why is volunteering important?

Volunteering enables a wide range of activities and services to take place within the community, which otherwise wouldn’t happen. Volunteering activity has great benefits to the health and well being of those who take part and helps the sustainability of the local community.

People who take part in volunteering benefit by widening their social and professional networks, increasing their skills and knowledge, staying mentally and physically active, and improving their local communities and environments.

Communities benefit from volunteering through the provision of a wide range of services. Across the county there are thousands of voluntary groups working hard to improve health and wellbeing, reduce rural isolation, improve community safety and cohesion, and to offer various services to children, young people, and adults.

Statutory services too are often enhanced by voluntary activity, enabling a greater amount of work to take place than would otherwise be possible.