A £400,000 National Lottery grant will enable a Wiltshire charity to tap into the appetite for volunteering discovered by hundreds of people during the coronavirus pandemic.

All over Wiltshire people who are self-employed, were on furlough or who just wanted to help, came forward to help Covid response groups and other charities, giving up their time to do shopping, collect prescriptions and even tend graves for elderly and vulnerable people who were shielding.

Wessex Community Action, which works with voluntary and community organisations and residents all over Wiltshire to provide support, training and guidance, has been given the lottery cash over four years to fund two new posts, which will be tasked with encouraging those volunteers to continue, if only informally and helping hundreds of voluntary groups to work closer together.

Chief Executive Amber Skyring said the posts, one promoting community development and volunteering and one working to help network and create connections between organisations and residents, can only be good for communities faced with closing businesses, job losses and increased mental health issues due to the coronavirus lockdown.

“We are very thankful for the Big Lottery grant, which will make a huge difference to the work that we can do,,” she said. “The money is needed because there is a huge opportunity to tap into the people who have had a taste for volunteering during the pandemic and want to do more.

“Suddenly there are people who were never able to find time for volunteering have discovered there is flexibility in doing it informally and it doesn’t have to be fixed days with one organisation.”

The volunteer support role will work with a range of community and voluntary groups to understand what volunteers are needed and then promote the opportunities. One way to help this will be a new online community platform, which is also being funded by the lottery grant. It will allow people who want to volunteer to register and be connected with groups who need help and help those groups find volunteers in their communities.

Mrs Skyring added: “The platform is being built at the moment and will go live in the autumn. It will also have a directory of events and activities in communities so more people can get involved.”

The bid for the grant came before the pandemic and the depth of the crisis has already caused WCA to reassess its priorities. “Originally we had planned to recruit 250 volunteers over four years but then during the pandemic we found 175 in a few months in Salisbury alone.

“We know there has been a resurgence in neighbourliness and paying it forward and we want to build on that. We also want to target younger people and people who can contribute to charities by becoming a trustee. This crisis has the potential to redefine volunteering and how communities come together, so we wish to stay open and be led by the communities themselves.”

The second role will work on bringing community and voluntary groups together to share resources, form partnerships and strengthen their impact within the communities they serve.

Said Mrs Skyring: “It is also looking for opportunities where there is funding available but one group is unable to bid for it on their own. By partnering and collaborating with another group to strengthen and connect them we achieve more together than alone and we can bring more money into Wiltshire to meet those needs.

“If groups can share their knowledge and resources and focus on what’s strong, not what is wrong, we can build a more resilient network. We’ve seen during the pandemic what strength there is in our communities and this lottery award will help us build on that.”

Find out more about the group at wessexcommunityaction.org.uk.

A £400,000 National Lottery grant will enable a Salisbury charity to tap into the appetite for volunteering discovered by hundreds of people during the coronavirus pandemic.

All over Wiltshire people who are self-employed, were on furlough or who just wanted to help, came forward to help Covid response groups and other charities, giving up their time to do shopping, collect prescriptions and even tend graves for elderly and vulnerable people who were shielding.

Wessex Community Action, which works with voluntary and community organisations and residents all over Wiltshire to provide support, training and guidance, has been given the lottery cash over four years to fund two new posts, which will be tasked with encouraging those volunteers to continue, if only informally and helping hundreds of voluntary groups to work closer together.

Chief Executive Amber Skyring said the posts, one promoting community development and volunteering and one working to help network and create connections between organisations and residents, can only be good for communities faced with closing businesses, job losses and increased mental health issues due to the coronavirus lockdown.

“We are very thankful for the Big Lottery grant, which will make a huge difference to the work that we can do,,” she said. “The money is needed because there is a huge opportunity to tap into the people who have had a taste for volunteering during the pandemic and want to do more.

“Suddenly there are people who were never able to find time for volunteering have discovered there is flexibility in doing it informally and it doesn’t have to be fixed days with one organisation.”

The volunteer support role will work with a range of community and voluntary groups to understand what volunteers are needed and then promote the opportunities. One way to help this will be a new online community platform, which is also being funded by the lottery grant. It will allow people who want to volunteer to register and be connected with groups who need help and help those groups find volunteers in their communities.

Mrs Skyring added: “The platform is being built at the moment and will go live in the autumn. It will also have a directory of events and activities in communities so more people can get involved.”

The bid for the grant came before the pandemic and the depth of the crisis has already caused WCA to reassess its priorities. “Originally we had planned to recruit 250 volunteers over four years but then during the pandemic we found 175 in a few months in Salisbury alone.

“We know there has been a resurgence in neighbourliness and paying it forward and we want to build on that. We also want to target younger people and people who can contribute to charities by becoming a trustee. This crisis has the potential to redefine volunteering and how communities come together, so we wish to stay open and be led by the communities themselves.”

The second role will work on bringing community and voluntary groups together to share resources, form partnerships and strengthen their impact within the communities they serve.

Said Mrs Skyring: “It is also looking for opportunities where there is funding available but one group is unable to bid for it on their own. By partnering and collaborating with another group to strengthen and connect them we achieve more together than alone and we can bring more money into Wiltshire to meet those needs.

“If groups can share their knowledge and resources and focus on what’s strong, not what is wrong, we can build a more resilient network. We’ve seen during the pandemic what strength there is in our communities and this lottery award will help us build on that.”

Find out more about the group at wessexcommunityaction.org.uk.