Denise Spence, Lifetime Achievement Award (Fellowship of YouthLink Scotland) recipient, highlights the importance and value of volunteers to the youth work sector and offers thanks for everything they do for young people.
Making a difference – that is what volunteers do. Unseen and unpaid, there are literally thousands of volunteers making a difference to the lives of young people in Scotland today. Just between Girlguiding and Scouts, there are more than 20,000 volunteers helping young people navigate life choices each week.
Organisations are powered by volunteers and if these roles were paid, they would cost around £25million per year to fund in Scotland. They give their time and talents freely because they believe every child in Scotland deserves to grow up with an ambition to fulfil their potential.
Volunteers create a hugely meaningful youth work relationship. Young people choose to be there and the joy for the volunteer is seeing that young person flourish and find their own unique identity.
We may introduce them to their passion for the outdoors, for music, for arts or for travel, but in a way, it is the hidden aspects that matter more. In Guiding, as in all youth work settings, young people learn to try new things they are scared of, learn that what they do has an impact on other people and even the youngest learn important life lessons such as how the world doesn’t fall in if you don’t win the game!
As we celebrate Volunteers’ Week I want to shout out all volunteers across Scotland and say a huge thank you for what you do. I have been invested in volunteering since I made my Guide promise as an adult many years ago. Last year at a conference, a leader from Angus thanked me for supporting her at a residential on the Isle of Arran more than a decade ago when she was teenager. She had been struggling with an undiagnosed mental health condition and had found the walking week really tough. Although I didn’t know her before the event, I remember I had simply walked alongside her, literally and metaphorically, offering quiet encouragement because that’s what ranger leaders do.
Afterwards, I realised that we usually aren’t aware of the difference we have made, so it was a privilege for me that she had taken the time let me know. Imagine how many lives the youth work volunteers across Scotland are impacting as we support the next generation of young people to thrive.
Bravo to each volunteer and thank you!
Denise Spence, CEO, Girlguiding Scotland