Thank you to our amazing volunteers

It's National Volunteers’ Week, 1–7 June – a great opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to all of our fantastic volunteers and celebrate all things volunteering. 

Our branch was established in 1969, relying on volunteers right from the start. Most of our work is carried out by volunteers. Some roles may be obvious, such as our amazing animal fosterers, who care for our animals in their own homes, socialising and rehabilitating them, taking them to the vet, and loving them until they find their forever homes. Or our retail teams, who work tirelessly in our shops, sorting and preparing donations for sale, working on the till, and assisting customers. You may have seen us out and about at events in the local community with our information boards, fun activities for kids, tombola, and items for sale – yes, again all volunteers!

Some roles are much less obvious, but are just as critical to our success and the smooth running of everyday activities, such as our IT support (so that everyone can operate and communicate), our recruitment and training team (helping us to grow and making sure we know what we're doing!), social media and website (sharing our work and great news stories so that everyone knows what we're up to), financial assistance (supporting members of the public who need help with vet bills), and our volunteer drivers who make sure that everything is where everyone needs it to be, including the animals! 

Last year we rescued and rehomed nearly 200 animals – managed entirely by our volunteer animal coordinators. It’s a hugely time-consuming job, making the arrangements to bring animals into our care, juggling spaces to ensure we can assist as many as possible, arranging each adoption, suggesting and assessing suitable animal matches, discussing their needs, preparing the paperwork, arranging meet and greets, and following up how animals are settling into their new homes. 

You may not realise that every charity must have a board of trustees. The board is legally responsible for the charity's activities and governance, setting the direction, overseeing the running, and ensuring that the charity is fulfilling its purpose as well as it possibly can. Again, all trustees are volunteers!  

Our volunteers range from age 16 to over 80!  Some are working full time and volunteer for a couple of hours each week, some are retired and now volunteer for us pretty much full time. Everything that each and every one of them does is critical to our success. 

So to all our volunteers, thank you to each and every one of you, on behalf of the staff team and all the animals – your contribution makes a huge difference, and our success is down to your talents, commitment and support.

In the same way as 'it takes a village to raise a child' it takes an army of hugely talented volunteers to run a successful charity!

If you are interested in joining our fantastic volunteer team, find out more on our website at https://www.rspca-southbucks.org.uk/volunteering