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Celebrating Volunteering at Refugee Services in Manchester

On Friday 25th November, the Greater Manchester Refugee Support Partnership put on a ‘Volunteer Celebration Event’, to thank and celebrate the volunteers who make their work possible.
Staff and volunteers from all the partnership organisations (Revive, Refugee Action, Rainbow Haven and the British Red Cross) attended. 
All of the organisations are eternally grateful to their volunteers for their passion, support and absolute dedication to their shared goal of improving the lives of vulnerable people.
Without them none of the work they do would be possible.
The aim of the event was to bring together members of all organisations and recognise the impact that they have together. There was a welcome reception with much needed tea and coffee, for those who had braced the cold and travelled great distances to be able to attend. This was followed by some ice-breaker activities. All volunteers were soon up on their feet, running around trying to gather information from other attendees. The hall was full of laughter and chatter in no time at all.
“I’m going to be worn out after all of this!” joked one volunteer.
Everyone then got into groups, where they were put to work making posters of the kind of words that they felt represented volunteer work. “Respect”, “United”, “Motivation”, “Diversity”, “Humanity prevails” and “Openness” were just some of the ideas thrown around. It was warming to hear the volunteers describe each other in such positive ways.
After the games, Rob Arnold, refugee support operations manager at the British Red Cross, thanked all of the volunteers and gave some moving words about the future. 
Then there was lunch, which had kindly been provided by Koi Kitchen, a local Chinese catering company. The food was absolutely delicious and there were plenty of leftovers which could be taken to a local homeless charity.
Every volunteer was also presented with a certificate, to thank them for their hard work. 
The admin/ volunteer coordinator at Revive, Pat Okekearu said that the volunteers were “the backbone” to their organisation.
Guests were then lucky enough to be able to watch a performance by WAST (Women Asylum Seekers Together). To see a sneak peek of the performance, head over to our facebook page.
The winner of the Raffle was announced, before everyone left feeling very happy and with very full tummies!
Revive would like to extend an enormous thanks to everyone who made the day possible. It was a tremendous success and a great end to the year.

 

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