Biggest-ever volunteer event is a huge success!
We recently headed to Oxford for Make-A-Wish’s biggest ever volunteer event. Nearly 200 volunteers from every corner of England joined us to celebrate 25 years of Make-A-Wish in the UK. We were also joined by representatives from some of our corporate supporters and another very special guest, one of our Patrons, Keith Chegwin!
Emma Cronin, Head of Volunteering, opened the day and then Neil Jones, our Chief Executive, shared some plans for the future. Jo Micklewright (Head of Wishgranting), Karen England (Director of Fundraising) and Fiona Brydon (Head of PR & Celebrities) each gave an overview of their departments and the rest of the day saw volunteers taking part in relaxed, informal sessions on Wishgranting, Fundraising, Challenges and PR. We also took the opportunity to recognise and thank some very special individuals.
We were delighted to see so many familiar faces and also to welcome lots of new volunteers.
Here is a sample of comments from volunteers who attended:
“I just wanted to drop you an email to thank you so much for a fabulous day on Saturday. From start to finish everything was fantastic. I do not underestimate the enormous amount of work and effort that was undertaken by everyone at Make-A-Wish to ensure the day was a huge success, from the planning of the venue to the content of the presentations, the lunch, the break-out groups; it was all truly wonderful.”
“It was a pleasure to attend on Saturday, and I was struck by the enthusiasm of everyone I met.”
“We found the day uplifting and energising and a great way to drive everyone forward as a team to achieve the challenges and targets we need to hit in the future.”
“I am proud to be able to say that I volunteer for such a wonderful charity.”
“I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who made last Saturday's Celebrations such a wonderful occasion. It was a fun, interesting, informative, entertaining and inspirational day! It was also great to meet, talk and listen to the other volunteers. I came away determined to do even more to support the charity! You all definitely lead by example and passion.”
“Just wanted to say a big thanks for yesterday... clearly a lot of time and effort had been spent on it… I was really pleased I went...”
