As 8th May draws nearer, it seems that, in a decade, we will look back on the weekend of King Charles III Coronation as a barometer from which we can assess the extent of communities coming together through the Big Help Out. Coming together through innumerable meaningful voluntary acts and gestures is crucial when increasingly people are living isolated lives, are worried about the future, and are apprehensive about their ability to shape it. The Big Help Out is a chance for everybody to feel motivated to make good happen and shape what good looks like.
“The Big Help Out is an opportunity to collectively galvanise whatever energy we have in store towards something better. It is time to stop thinking of volunteering as a good activity in and of itself and focus, instead, on the positive change that evolves through volunteering.”
Do we acknowledge the extent to which change is required? Every day, for different reasons, people come together in movements of support, action, and solidarity to make progress possible. The most helpful acts are the ones that are redistributive and equitable in offering people the necessary space, time, resources, and freedom to help themselves in the way that they see fit. Wanting to help is a human instinct and desire; however, we often don’t know how to enable it or whether we should. The Big Help Out removes all fear of judgment or uncertainty; it is our license to do good.
On 8th May, we have it within our reach [as organisers, organisations, and individuals] to demonstrate that communities have the power and agency to improve their place. The Big Help Out is an opportunity to collectively galvanise whatever energy we have in store towards something better. It is time to stop thinking of volunteering as a good activity in and of itself and focus, instead, on the positive change that evolves through volunteering. Now more than ever, it is the right time to connect communities with their purpose and use volunteering to demonstrate what’s possible.
The aim is not just simply to volunteer. Volunteering designs what’s next – for you and your community. Through this lens, view volunteering as an actualised agency, the doing of democracy, and an investment in the world as you want it to be. In every sense, volunteering moves – emotionally and otherwise. Volunteering is a cathartic release that regenerates, replenishes, and repairs. From its starting point, volunteering is a step towards something better, a sustained, rhythmical motion like the tide that erodes the walls and barriers that block change.
The Big Help Out is a chance for everyone to celebrate the power of volunteering and every individual’s capacity to change their space and place for the better. We will all look back and remember where we were and with whom.
To start your volunteering journey, why not visit the Big Help Out website or download the app. Or you can view our volunteering opportunities here.
