Every single member of the Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team Plymouth is a volunteer. Many precious hours are spent not only at weekly training session but on vehicle and equipment maintenance, meetings, fund raising and many other vital aspects that go into running the team.
Our charity is one of the many organisations and areas that require the assistance of volunteers to survive. It has been widely recognised what an invaluable niche volunteers are part of. Due to this, Volunteer Week was established back in 1984 by Volunteering England to celebrate and thank those for their contribution to the UK. It has been estimated that the annual value of volunteers helping UK charities is £22.6bn, and that during 2017-2018, 38% of the UK population formally volunteered at least once a year, with 22% of people volunteering at least once a month.
It has been shown that volunteering not only aids others but also greatly improves the wellbeing of the volunteer too. Many new skills are learnt and the experiences gained increase confidence levels immensely. This is very true of the case within the Plymouth section of Dartmoor Search and Rescue. Many members have become trained in Water rescue or taken more of a medical role and have qualified as Casualty Carers. This is all done in the free time of our volunteers.
Volunteer Week runs from the 1st to the 7th June and many events and celebrations will take place across the country to say thank you for the contribution that these people make who give up their spare time to make a difference.
If you are interested in finding out more about Volunteer Week or helping within any voluntary organisation check out the below website for details. https://volunteersweek.org/
