It's Volunteers' Week, the UK's annual celebration of the fantastic contribution that volunteers make to our society.
We want to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to every volunteer who has supported the work of the RNIB Group in any way.
Thank you - we couldn't do everything we do without you!
The difference our volunteers make
Around 4000 volunteers support our work, contributing to more than 150 different activities across the RNIB Group including fundraising, campaigning, administration, driving, gardening and more.
Collectively, they give approximately 40,000 hours of their time to us every month and allow us to reach more people than we possibly could without them.
We recently carried out a survey to understand the impact of volunteering. Here are some of the headlines:
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96% of volunteers say that volunteering makes them feel useful.
If we were to attribute a financial value to the efforts that volunteers contribute, it would be equivalent to £6million a year!
What you say about our volunteers
The quotes below are about our Technology Support Service:
"These two volunteers are a shining beacon for the RNIB. Both of them go out of their way to help with my queries and nothing is too much trouble for them. Thank you again for the service and help you and the volunteers give so I can access the technology that makes such a difference to me to be able to live an independent life."
"Thank you for your volunteer and for another excellent visit. I will be making a donation in recognition of the help I have received for free."
"Thank you for the lovely volunteer you sent to help my husband with his digital radio - he gets so much pleasure from listening to the radio and the volunteer was most patient and helpful."
What our volunteers give
Our volunteers not only add value to what we do; they invest personally and emotionally in what they do.
Jockie is one of our Technology Support volunteers and has been helping blind and partially sighted people use our Talking Books Service for more than ten years. After much deliberation, he recently made the difficult decision to stop volunteering with us:
"I'd just like to take this last opportunity to say that I've had a great time. I've met some remarkable people, some of whom became friends rather than 'clients'. Lots of them have had stories to tell that will stay with me forever.
The person, a local co-ordinator, who roped me in in 1999, told me the role would be very rewarding. He was absolutely correct. I put in a lot but I'm taking away much more. My work here changed my personal outlook irreversibly.
I hope I have managed to portray how monumental a task it has been for me to reach this conclusion. I actually feel quite tearful as I write this. It has been a memorable chapter of my life so far."