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Guide Dogs APPEAL FOR VOLUNTEERS IN THE MEON VALLEY community by placing the iconic Guide Dogs collection boxes in local shops and businesses. Hazel Kelly, Volunteering Coordinator for Guide Dogs says “if you want to find a way to give back to a great cause and have some fun, then there is nothing better than joining one of our groups. It gives you the chance to connect with your local community, gain new friends and really make a difference to people living with sight loss.” There are around 2 million people currently living with sight loss in the UK. In Hampshire alone, there are over 50,000 people according to the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) who are partially sighted or blind. While not all these people are registered blind, their sight loss still has a significant impact on their daily life, for example not being able to drive.
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he local branch of charity Guide Dogs is urgently looking for new volunteers in Meon Valley. In particular they are in need of people to join their local fundraising groups, which organise community events and collections to help raise much needed funds. The local team is based in Southampton at Chandler’s Ford and has a range of fundraising groups spread out across Hampshire and surrounding counties. The charity relies on donations to keep its vital services running and has suffered with the impact of Covid-19 putting a dent in much of their face to face fundraising activities over the summer. It costs around £57,000 to train and support a guide dog partnership, from breeding, training and ongoing support throughout the dog and owner’s life. Guide Dogs has fundraising groups all across the country. This means that people can volunteer in their local communities and make a difference, while getting involved with a fun and positive group. While lots of activity is still happening online, the hope is to get out and about in the community once restrictions ease. In Meon Valley, the charity is keen to recruit volunteer Collection Box Coordinators. This role involves building relationships in the
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Guide Dogs supports people with a visual impairment to maintain their independence and live the life they choose. They provide a range of services from the iconic guide dog service, support for children and young people and volunteer-led services such as My Sighted Guide (a two-legged guide rather than a four legged one!) All of this work helps people with sight loss live independently, enabling them to take part in everything they want to do. To provide these services the charity relies on an army of incredible and dedicated volunteers, and in Meon Valley they urgently want to grow the group to help raise vital funds. Rachael MacLoughlin, Regional Volunteering Advisor for Guide Dogs says: “Our fundraisers are a crucial part of the Guide Dogs family, not only raising funds for our life-changing services, but also helping to spread the word in their communities about what Guide Dogs do and how we support people. “Our volunteers tell us their top motivations for volunteering are to make a useful contribution and to support people living with sight loss. In fact, according to our latest volunteer survey (2019), 71% of volunteers strongly recommend volunteering for Guide Dogs.” Whether you have lots of spare time or just an hour a week, the group has room for anyone interested in getting involved. Full training and support is provided and you can get started making a difference from home. To apply go to https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/volunteer.
