Father and Daughter to Celebrate Successes at European Year of Volunteering Open Day

The European Year of Volunteering will be launched in Aberdeen this Wednesday with a special open day event at ACVO Volunteer Centre. The European Year of Volunteering (Jan-Dec 2011) aims to raise awareness of the valuable work being carried out by volunteers locally, nationally and Europe-wide, and to encourage more members of the public to donate as little as an hour a week or a few days a year to helping within their community.

Within Aberdeen, it is estimated that there are currently over 44,000 volunteers donating around 3.7million hours per year, but ACVO Volunteer Centre hopes to encourage even more involvement throughout 2011.

Rod McDermid, Volunteer Co-ordinator, explains, “Each month this year we will be focusing on and promoting one area of volunteering within the City. We will be talking to key people within that area on our SHMU FM radio show and getting involved in local and national events. For example, January is Disabilities month and includes interviews with representatives of Inspire and of North East Sensory Services (formerly Grampian Society for the Blind).”

Events kick off from 12 noon until 2pm on Wednesday 19 th January with an Open Day at ACVO Volunteer Centre’s offices in Greyfriars House on the Gallowgate. Many of Aberdeen’s community groups and charities will be in attendance, providing members of the public with information about the benefits of volunteering and local opportunities.

In addition, ACVO Volunteer Centre have recently reached their 1000 th MV Awards registration and are delighted to be presenting the certificate on Wednesday.

The MV Awards recognise the efforts of 16-25 year old volunteers, with certificates being given for 50, 100 and 200 hours of voluntary work.

Rod continues, “The 1000 th Award in Aberdeen is huge milestone, but is of particular significance to me because it is being given to my daughter!”

22 year old Kirsten McDermid is a fourth year MA (Hons) Fashion Design student at The Robert Gordon University. She said, “I was really pleased to register for MV. We do a lot of unpaid work on our course arranging catwalk shows and exhibitions and I hope that the Award will help towards my future employment in the fashion industry.”

RGU’s Student Association received their Investing in Volunteers Award in 2010 and is one of the groups which will be present at the Open Day.