#50,000 Cambridgeshire’s volunteers clock-up the hours helping the community including Glenda from Wisbech
A dedicated army of volunteers who give up their time to help others have hit an amazing milestone – clocking up 50,000 hours between them to help make the county a better place.
Over 1,700 Time Credit Volunteers have given #50,000hrs – which equates to five years and eight months – since the scheme launched in 2014 to helping older people, children and young people and community organisations across Cambridgeshire.
The innovative scheme is commissioned by Cambridgeshire County Council, CHS Group and Cambridge City Council who work with Spice, a social enterprise that delivers the initiative in various locations in the county. With over 70 organisations signed up, the scheme in Cambridgeshire is one of the largest networks under Spice, which runs Time Credit programmes in six regions across England and Wales.
Over the next 10 days, using the hashtag #50,000hrs the council will be celebrating this fantastic achievement and sharing stories on social media of some of the volunteers who have made this happen including Wisbech volunteer Glenda Storey who gives her time to Community House, which supports people to get back into work.
Glenda, who came to know about Time Credits when she was homeless and in a hostel, has earned Time Credits when she volunteered to give her time to Wisbech Community House.
She said: “When I started going to the Community House I was given the opportunity to volunteer and was again given Time Credits for my time. I have been using them to go to the Light Cinema,Peckover House, Elgood’s Garden, the College of West Anglia and swimming at New Vision.
“Without Time Credits I would not have been able to visit these places and enjoy the activities they have on offer.”
Adrian Chapman, Cambridgeshire’s service director for community and safety, said: “We have reached an absolutely incredible milestone with 50,000 hours being given by our dedicated army of volunteers. Thank you to everyone who has helped their community over the past four years to help make it a better place. Over the next few weeks we want to celebrate this by showing some of the great things that have been achieved.
“Time Credits helps to strengthen and build strong connected communities by encouraging volunteering across all age groups enabling people to give time to their communities in a wide range of ways. More than 50,000 hours have been given so far by our volunteers to help their local communities - imagine what we could achieve with the next 50,000 hours?”
To find out more about Cambridgeshire Time Credits and how you can help, visit www.justaddspice.org, search for CambsTimeCredits or follow @cambstimecredit.
