Age Cymru Dyfed Awarded Grant Funding to Develop Volunteering Opportunitie

Age Cymru Dyfed has successfully secured grant funding to develop volunteering opportunities across Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, and Ceredigion.

The funding, awarded by Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA), will enable the charity to introduce the role of Volunteer Co-Ordinator. The new role will be responsible for co-ordinating volunteers across all Age Cymru Dyfed projects such as Befriending, Veteran Support, Digital Support, Information and Advice, and more.

Lynne Meredith, Volunteers Manager at Age Cymru Dyfed, said: “We are extremely grateful to Wales Council Voluntary Action for providing the funding for this vital role. Volunteers are at the heart of everything we do here at Age Cymru Dyfed. Volunteers make a huge difference to the number of people we can support, changing the lives of our clients by building their confidence to reconnect with communities, getting them connected digitally, supporting them to claim benefits to help improve their quality of life and so much more.”

Current volunteering opportunities at Age Cymru Dyfed include Befriending Life Links, an initiative designed to support people to build confidence and combat loneliness via telephone and Zoom group, Digital Champions, who enable people to get connected and get the most out of their online experiences, Information and Advice, a free service to help clients access support their entitled to, and Veteran Support to help make sure veterans are supported with their needs.

Lynne Meredith continued: “The benefits of volunteering include improving the health and wellbeing of both the volunteer and the client, by making them feel connected and purposeful, and can provide the volunteer with training and new skills, and enable them to share their skills with others, making a meaningful contribution and having a positive impact on their community.

“We fully support our volunteers for whatever reason they want to volunteer with us, and now that we have funding for a dedicated volunteer co-ordinator, we can ensure that we continue to support them throughout their volunteering journey to the very real benefit of them and our clients. We’d love to hear from anyone with an interest in volunteering – please just get in touch for an informal chat.”

For more information on how to volunteer with Age Cymru Dyfed visit their website https://www.ageuk.org.uk/cymru/dyfed/get-involved/volunteer/.