Volunteering and Voice

Volunteers have always been at the heart of Reach – helping to create exciting new opportunities for learning and enriching the lives of the adults with learning disabilities we support.

Thanks to a generous five-year grant from The National Lottery Community Fund, we’re now expanding our volunteering programme through the All Part of Change Project.

This project will open up new opportunities for local volunteers and adults with learning disabilities to get involved – in our centres and across the wider community. It also marks a major step forward in our Voice & Participation work, empowering people with learning disabilities to have influence over the issues that matter to them.

All Part of Change is led by Tracey, our Projects & Participation Manager, with support from Wayne, our Volunteer Manager and Voice & Participation Co-ordinator.

Here are just a few examples of what we got up to last year...

Van

Taking time to celebrate and thank our amazing volunteers

Kings mill team

Woodworking project at Flower Pod Newark to build a house for Ducks

FP Newark client vol

Volunteers support preparations for Reach's 25th Anniversary Service

CVS

Volunteers 'pulled together' at Flower Pod Southwell for the day, to get on top of the weeds

Volunteer Stories

Michelle

Reach Southwell volunteer

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Phil

Reach Volunteer

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Jo

Reach Volunteer

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Volunteering at Reach: The Numbers (2023–24)
• 130 community volunteers • 20 adults with learning disabilities volunteered in our centres • 10 helped establish our Voice & Participation Group • 400+ client-facing volunteer hours delivered each week • 200 corporate volunteers contributed time and skills Creating an estimated £197,200 in social value annually

Projects like All Part of Change all rely on fundraising.

Without grants and donations, many people would miss out on life-enriching experiences that build independence and confidence.

We are grateful to organisations that have helped us to develop our volunteering and Voice & Participation work over the years including:

The National Lottery Community Fund

Nottinghamshire County Council

UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Read more about our project

  • Increase green volunteering opportunities for all
  • Grow our Voice & Participation activities
  • Develop a new Volunteering Strategy
  • Create a new volunteering pathway for adults with learning disabilities
  • Build partnerships with local groups to open up more volunteering and community participation opportunities.
Logo of the National Lottery Community Fund

How our volunteers continued to support us through the Coronavirus Crisis

One of the things that was hard for all of us during the pandemic was not seeing our wonderful volunteers face to face for such a long time.

Some of our volunteers were able to continue supporting us in other ways, like our Flower Pod volunteers who tended to the garden at times when they could safely visit. We developed a rota so that we could make the most of the daylight hours while clients were not on site. Other volunteers worked on projects like our pilot Volunteers’ Driver scheme and rota.

By the autumn, volunteers gradually began to return to centres safely. We are proud of how we supported volunteers during the pandemic and how they continued to support us: from joining online classes and socials via Zoom to building a self-composting toilet at Flower Pod which you can read more about here.

Thank you to all our volunteers – we couldn’t do it without you!