Making a difference through volunteering

Aug 14 2009 by Iain Pollock, Dumfries Standard Friday

VOLUNTEERING has rarely been more popular than it is now – but how do you get involved in a project and make a difference for yourself?

Honda UK has recently teamed up with do-it.org.uk as part of its launch campaign for the Honda Insight hybrid car – carrying the strapline “Everybody wants to be good”.

The company has put a special volunteering search tool on its website, Honda.co.uk, which matches volunteers to environmental projects looking for support.

You can also find a special link to the site on the Standard's website at www.dgstandard.co.uk – where we can help put you in the right direction of many volunteering opportunities.

A search of the do-it website is a good place to look for volunteering opportunities – and there are plenty across the region!

And in this area, Grierson and Graham Honda is supporting the BTCV, previously known as the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers.

For every test drive booked for Honda's newest car, Grierson and Graham Honda will make a donation to the BTCV, a charity set up in 1959 and which has a successful history of environmental conservation volunteering throughout the UK and around the world.

Phone 01387 253405 if you want to arrange a test drive of the Honda Insight.

Working with and supporting BTCV can be a rewarding experience for corporate partners, the Government, Big Lottery Fund, local authorities, government agencies such as English Nature and individual donors.

As a charity, BTCV relies heavily on voluntary donations. The work they do is only made possible by people like you – people who want to make a difference to their community and environment.

Visit www.bctv.org.uk to find out about volunteers with the BCTV in Dumfries and Galloway.

Other volunteering opportunities available in the Dumfries area via do-it.org.uk include Volunteer for Girlguiding UK and The British Heart Foundation Scotland.

So how do you become a doer? A good place to start is your local Volunteer Centre (visit: http://www.do-it.org.uk/wanttovolunteer/aboutvolunteering/vcfinder) where you can find out about opportunities in your area. Another route is the website, do-it.org.uk, where you can search a UK-wide database of volunteering opportunities. The do-it.org.uk site receives more than 35,000 applications each month from volunteers looking to be matched with one of its one million-plus opportunities.

We all want to do some good – and volunteering is a great way to keep on doing good.