By Amanda Naylor, Chief Executive of Volunteering Matters
I recently had the joy and privilege of visiting our Family Mentors project in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It was a powerful reminder of just how life changing it is to give your time to others.
Family Mentors is one of around 75 projects we run at Volunteering Matters. It reflects everything we stand for. This project is not built on spreadsheets or targets but on trust, relationships and care.
Right now, around 10,800 people are volunteering with us across the country. Many are supporting families, with some offering their time to more than one family at once and often choosing to return and do it all again. When you take a moment to think about the reach of that, it is truly inspiring.
We’ll never know the full ripple effect of what you do but I get to see it and I am constantly humbled.
Parenting and caring has never been more challenging. With the cost-of-living crisis, mental health struggles, pressures in education and broken systems many families are just trying to keep going. But when someone shows up and chooses to walk alongside them it changes everything.
You are making a difference. To families, to your communities, to the systems you help people navigate and to us as an organisation. This is where belonging and kindness live side by side.
You don’t show up because you have to. You show up because you choose to. And that is quietly radical.
What I heard in Woolwich and also in Glasgow, Cardiff, Suffolk and so many other places is that the smallest acts often make the biggest difference. Making a phone call together. Sorting out paperwork. Sitting and listening. These are not soft outcomes. They are human outcomes. They are often the first steps to lasting change.
Some families need more time. Some need someone beside them until they feel ready to move forward. As one of our team said beautifully:
You’re behind the family, hands gently on their shoulders, whispering in their ear. Then one day your hands lift and they step forward.
That is the power of this work.
I want to acknowledge just how much you carry. The stories, the emotions, the frustration. You take things home with you. That is why as we shape our new five year strategy we are listening to you. You have told us you want to feel more connected, more supported and more visible across the organisation.
We hear you. We are creating more space to connect, reflect and recharge. Because this work is emotional, real and it matters.
Your support changes lives and often changes your own. Many of our volunteers go on to become support workers, educators or even part of the Volunteering Matters team. That is the beautiful exchange at the heart of volunteering.
To our Woolwich team thank you for welcoming me. To every Family Mentor wherever you are thank you for being part of this. Thank you for proving that people powered change works. Thank you for reminding me why this work matters so deeply.
It is an honour to walk alongside you.
A special thank you to our friends at Mama2Mama who kindly supported this visit. They are a vital part of our local community network.
