Look for the helpers

Be a helper

This week is Volunteers Week's 40th anniversary. A study on volunteering from NISRA links volunteering with better life satisfaction, self-efficacy, and locus of control. Volunteering is a really positive activity for everyone.

I’ve been musing over the effects of volunteering in my life. I have written before about the beautiful charity Parenting Mental Health. I have received so much from this organisation. It runs on the generosity of volunteers, primarily other parents who have been or are going through challenging times with their child’s mental health. I drew the picture below to illustrate how it felt not to be judged but to be helped through.

I am incredibly grateful to all who give their time to moderate, share, run groups, and fundraise. I am blessed that my son is now thriving, and I want to give something back. This Sunday at 1 a.m., I will join a fabulous group of PMH volunteers walking ‘Snowden for Sunrise’ so that even more parents can be helped. Please sponsor me at Just Giving.

This week, I have also been typing the minutes for a little-known volunteer group I am involved with, Kirkham Cultural Consortium (KCC). The KCC was established following a Heritage Action Zone grant in 2021. We have run several cultural events in our town, including commissioning a fantastic mural and putting on a hugely successful Lantern Festival.

Volunteering can be hard work, but it is worthwhile. Giving brings joy. Seeing people having fun through what we enabled was a fantastic feeling.

If you’d like some of that feel-good factor, you can join the KCC and help us put on another fabulous festival in 2025.

We are holding an open drop-in evening on Tuesday, June 25th,6.30 - 9 pm, in Morrisons Cafe. Come for a free drink and a chat, and learn how to get involved.

If PMH and KCC are not for you, is there any life experience you could linger after and help others? I love this Mr Rogers quote,

“Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

instead of just looking for the helpers, be a helper.