Looking back on 2020
At Venture Scotland we’ve always had volunteers at the core of everything we get up to, and the past year has served to remind us of a few things.
Firstly, our volunteers are absolutely amazing. The best people going. Magnificent. Of course, we never forgot that one, but since March 2020 and the start of our Covid-19 world, our volunteers have continued to support us and our young people in a vast array of different ways (more on that below!) and have given us almost 3,200 hours of their time, which adds up to almost £50,000 saved!
Over the past year our volunteers have been involved in countless activities that are a far cry from getting outside in the hills; they interviewed participants, staff and volunteers past and present (Thank you Bryn!); are currently building a website for us from scratch (Thanks Anna!); they washed minibuses in some truly foul weather (Thanks AK!); transcribed the audio from one of our awards ceremonies (Thank you Tiff!); delivered computers to those technologically cut off by lockdown (Thanks to Andy, Phil, David, Bryn, Louis, Owen, Rachel, Sheena, Alyson, Andy, Andrew and Edmund!); wrote countless social media posts for us (Thanks to Louise, Stephen, Sophie and Holly!); wrote fundraising applications among other pieces of admin work (Thanks to Rosie, Holly, Andreia and Vaiva!); took some stunning photos (Thanks Rachel!); ran their own virtual challenges to raise money for us (Thanks to Kath and Leanne!); joined us to help train our newest cohort of volunteers (Thanks to Bryan, Callum, Jo, Jodie, Andy and Edmund!); and last but not least, joined us as Ambassadors (Thank you Bryan, Callum, Jo and Jodie!).
That list is by no means exhaustive and doesn’t even begin to cover all the things volunteers have done with us – it doesn’t involve getting outdoors with young people, let alone all the volunteers who HAVE been outdoors with young people, but it goes some way to showing just how committed our amazing volunteer family is to supporting Venture Scotland and the work that we do.
Secondly, 2020 has thrown up a range of challenges for all of us, but one of the key things almost all of us have experienced is the isolation of lockdown. We’ve always tried to give our volunteers a community of like-minded people they can meet, connect and grow with, and the isolation of 2020 has strengthened our resolve to work even harder to create that space. So to aid that, we’re creating a monthly programme of activities for our volunteers to get involved with; for training, experience, and most of all for that warm glow we all get from our time with Venture Scotland.
So thank you, to all the folks named above, and the many more folks not mentioned, whose tireless support of Venture Scotland allows us to keep doing the work we do, and helps to change young lives in a way that wouldn’t be possible without you.
Thank you!
