Personal praise from Amy Hebdon for Doncaster borough’s Macmillan care

It’s almost the end of March, and I’m not quite sure where the start of the year has gone! I know as the weather starts to improve, people will want to get out and about and will be looking for new things to do. So, I thought I’d talk this month about volunteering and why it makes a huge difference to Macmillan and the people affected by cancer we support.

There is only so much I can do each day and that’s why volunteers are vital to Macmillan. They help us reach more people. Their local knowledge and networks make a huge difference. We rely on their help in so many ways, from delivering talks about their own experiences, by holding fantastic fundraising events to collecting.

From Arksey, we’ve had the support of the wonderful Margaret Tarren. Over the years of Margaret’s fundraising for Macmillan she has raised over £20,000! Margaret’s fundraising mainly involved lots of coffee mornings. She’s queen of the raffle ticket selling too. You’d never know it by her youthful zest for life but Margaret is 83 and retired from her fundraising activities last year, although she’s still been in touch after raising more funds for us. Her fundraising efforts even gained her an invite to the Queen’s garden party!

In Doncaster, we urgently need volunteers to help in all these ways. For example, we need someone who is willing to represent Macmillan in the community attending cheque presentations or talking about our work. People can also give a few hours to join in with our supermarket collections.

We’d also love to bring together a group of people to work together as part of a Macmillan group. Do you like organising events – or are you good at organisation and planning, dealing with people, handling finances and accounts, marketing and publicity, or administration? If you have any of these skills you might just provide the missing piece of the bigger jigsaw.

I’d like to say a big thank you to our existing volunteers. They do a wonderful job, we’re grateful for the help they give and welcome any new help we can get. We’d love to hear those interested, no matter how small or large you think your contribution can be. If you are interested in becoming a Macmillan volunteer, joining a fundraising group or would like further information, call Amy Hebdon on 07710 307050 or contact [email protected] email.