The MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, Andrew Jones, will commence his fifth annual Volunteer Week on 23 September 2014 following the success of his previous volunteer weeks.
Every year Andrew devotes several days to volunteering at various organisations. These are not ‘official’ visits by a Member of Parliament but hands-on work alongside other volunteers. The idea of the week is to highlight the good work done by local volunteers, to showcase the breadth of organisations with which one can be involved and to encourage others to give up a little of their time for volunteering too.
Andrew will start the week at Staveley Nature Reserve with the ‘Trailblazers’ conservation group from local charity Open Country. This will be followed by a stint with Boroughbridge library home call service and football training with Harrogate Gateway FC – a club dedicated to the development and provision of football for disabled people in the Harrogate area.
For the rest of the week Andrew will be helping at the Supporting Older People group, the Age UK ‘Walk out well’ walking group and hosting a public meeting on Alzheimers Research. The week will conclude with a community litter pick and work with the Disability Action Yorkshire team from Claro Road.
The community litter pick is open to the public to take part too. If you want to join Andrew Jones and his team call 01423 529614 or email andrew.jones.mp@parliament.uk
Andrew said: This is a really important week because it gives me a chance to promote the value of volunteering in the community.
Voluntary work benefits the organisation where the volunteer works and also the volunteer themselves.
Volunteers acquire new skills, make new friends and help keep our community vibrant and healthy.
Before becoming a Member of Parliament I volunteered for a number of local causes such as Fair Trade and Plastic Bag Free Harrogate.
I found volunteering rewarding and want to encourage more people to get involved.
Andrew will be keeping a blog during the week and tweeting his progress so people can see what he has been doing in real-time and learn more about the charity or organisation for which he has been volunteering.
To read the blog visit: http://volunteerweek2014.wordpress.com Andrew’s Twitter handle is @AndrewJonesMP
