Players support one of club's official charity partners
The Northampton Hope Centre has recently achieved the Investing in Volunteers Quality Standard, recognising the excellent work they do with volunteers. The process involved being assessed against a range of best practice standards with the Hope Centre excelling in all aspects of working with volunteers.
Sarah Passam, the Day Centre Manager, said: “We always knew the work that our volunteers do is incredibly important to us as a charity so when we heard the news everyone was really excited and so very proud.
"A particularly important part of our volunteer programme involves our client volunteers who benefit from new skills and responsibilities that help them on a pathway back to independent living and employment. This aspect of our programme is seen as very innovative across the charity sector.”
Investing in Volunteers is the UK quality standard for all organisations involving volunteers. It aims to improve the quality of the volunteering experience as well as acknowledge the enormous contribution they make. The standard is rigorous but designed to be simple to implement without the need for large amounts of paperwork.
“This award gives our Volunteer Programme a real seal of approval,” said Hope Centre Chairman Adrian Pryce.
"It also gives us a recognised framework around which we can build and expand our work with volunteers. We are always on the look-out for new volunteers so if you can spare the time we’d love to hear from you, just get in touch via the website.”
As a ‘thank you’ for all their hard work the volunteers were invited to attend an awards ceremony at the Hope Centre on Tuesday 15 September 2015. The presentation of an ‘Investing in Volunteers’ plaque was made by Brendan Moloney and Ricky Holmes from Northampton Town Football Club, who are supporting the Hope Centre this year as one of their charities of the year.