Those interested in potentially volunteering their time to the Department of Health or other of the Island’s voluntary/charitable organisations are being invited to come along to the Sefton Hotel on Saturday, 2 March 2013. They’ll have the opportunity to ‘speed date’ up to 30 organisations eager to recruit those with some time to spare. The event will be one of the Island’s biggest ever volunteer recruitment initiatives, providing those who want to find out more about volunteering but who are unsure where to start, with the chance to find out more information about roles on offer and maybe even find their ‘perfect match’.
The ‘speed dating’ style event, which is being organised by the Noble’s Hospital Volunteer Service, will take place in the Sefton Hotel’s Garden Room between 10.00am and 2.00pm. The ultimate aim is to give prospective volunteers an opportunity to chat to potential voluntary organisations and find out whether they ‘match’, with the hope of forming many great and lasting partnerships. Volunteer’s Cupid for the day will be Manx Telecom TV’s Paul Moulton who will compére proceedings, with Noble’s Hospital’s Healing Arts Manager, Mark Burrows providing music.
Minister for Health, David Anderson MHK said: “The Isle of Man Government welcomes ever closer partnership working with the Island’s charitable and voluntary sector, but these organisations are highly dependent upon volunteers – whether they have just an hour or maybe even a few days a week to spare. Recruitment is a challenge facing many organisations and I’m delighted that the Department has taken a leadership role and come up with this innovative idea. It is a credit to the Island and our society that so many members of the public wish to dedicated their time and volunteer for services that are vital to the Island, and it is essential we continue to support these voluntary organisations. The Department’s Volunteer Service, which operates Island wide, has become an integral part of the Island’s Health Service and without our volunteers’ support we could not deliver the customer care and range of services we provide today.”
Alison Lester, Noble’s Hospital Volunteer Service Manager said: “From the initial publicity, we have had an enormous amount of interest from organisations across the voluntary sector, ranging from health related services to the MSPCA. This will be a fantastic opportunity for organisations to showcase their services and actively recruit volunteers, as well as for potential volunteers to find out more. It will be great fun and I would encourage anyone who is interested in volunteering to attend – the event simply can’t work without them. This is, hopefully, something we would like to be able to facilitate annually. The Sefton Group has very kindly sponsored the event this year, which will be taking place in the Garden Room at the Sefton Hotel. It is a very exciting venture to be spearheading, and within days of announcing it the places filled up and now we have, potentially, 30 organisations who will be present on the day - which will make this day unforgettable for both, organisations and the public.”
