19 Jun 2017
This month it was Volunteers Week — a time to celebrate all those who donate their time to support causes close to their heart. As the Volunteer Recruitment & Development Manager for London's Air Ambulance, Hayley Rainey was right at the centre of our charity's efforts to say thank you to all our incredible volunteers.
“Volunteers Week is a fantastic opportunity for us to show our gratitude. We rely so much on our volunteers every week of the year, so it’s great to celebrate what they do and commend them for all their support," Hayley explains.
"This year we held our first Volunteer Recognition event to do exactly that. We wanted to get everyone who donates their time to London’s Air Ambulance together and say thank you.
Our volunteers are an integral part of our team. Whether they work in our shop, collect the full pots or help out in the office, everything they do helps us raise the money we need to get our medical team to the roadside. It ultimately helps save lives. We want to make sure our volunteers can see what a huge part they play in that whole process.”
Hayley has looked after our volunteers for four years since she joined our charity from The Prince's Trust. Volunteers support nearly every team at London's Air Ambulance, from Finance to Events, and it's Hayley's job to make sure their skills are best placed and that they receive the appropriate training.
"When I came to London's Air Ambulance, the charity was a lot smaller. There wasn't anyone solely dedicated to supporting volunteers, so it was my role to look after them and help grow our volunteering programme. It was great to get people involved in something they really cared about.
"That's what strikes me about our volunteers. They're so passionate about what we do, whatever their reason for supporting us. We have people come in who have been directly affected by our service, including ex-patients and their families, but there are also volunteers with no immediate connection who feel incredibly strongly about the charity and what it does.
"As our charity continues to grow, I hope that we can get a lot more volunteers to support us. I want to expand the roles we offer so anyone can get involved in some way or another. We'd love to have more people out in their communities helping us raise money and awareness — if we had 50 volunteers telling their friends and family about London's Air Ambulance and then those people went and told their friends and family, that would mean a lot more people knowing we are a charity."
If you'd like to support London's Air Ambulance as a volunteer, you can register your interest here.