During “Volunteers Week” (June 1 – 7) The ReUse Centre Limited had cause for a double celebration.
In April they successfully passed their Investing in Volunteers accreditation. They used their annual
Volunteers Week event to hold a special party for their volunteers on June 4th at their shop located
at 3 Church Arcade, Bedford, MK40 1LQ.
Deputy Mayor, Charles Royden, and Miss Bedfordshire, Deyonne Best, were on hand to present the
Investing in Volunteers plaques to two of the longest-serving volunteers at The ReUse Centre. Frank
Jennings has been a volunteer almost since the charity started, as Furniture Link (Bedford), back in
1998. Frank received an Investing in Volunteers Plaque on behalf of all the volunteers at the Gadsby
Street location from Miss Bedfordshire. Pat Tuck has been volunteering for over seven years now.
Pat was presented a plaque on behalf of all the volunteers at the Church Arcade shop from the Deputy Mayor.
Chief Officer – Mark J Thompson – told us “Achieving the Investing in Volunteers certification is a
huge accomplishment for our local charity. It took a lot of work on behalf of all the staff and volunteers
to make this happen. Everyone pulled together and the final result was a real win for our local charity.
As we are coming up on our twentieth birthday this is a great way for the charity to reinforce how very
important our Volunteers are to us”
Investing in Volunteers is the UK quality standard for all organisations involving volunteers.
Investing in Volunteers aims to improve the quality of the volunteering experience for all
volunteers and for organisations to acknowledge the enormous contribution made by
volunteers. Investing in Volunteers is managed by the UK Volunteering Forum and delivered by
NCVO, Volunteer Scotland, Volunteer Now in Northern Ireland and Wales Council for Voluntary
Action.
The ReUse Centre was assessed against a range of best practice standards and proved to excel in
all aspects of working with its volunteers.
Investing in Volunteers is unique in that it is the only standard that focuses on volunteers. It is
based on four areas of volunteer management; planning volunteer involvement, recruiting
volunteers, selecting and matching volunteers and supporting and retaining volunteers.
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