Celebrating Our Investing in Volunteers Award!

Celebrating Our Investing in Volunteers Award!

Recognition for the effective involvement of volunteers at Age Cymru Dyfed

Age Cymru Dyfed is proud to announce its Investing in Volunteers award, received for quality standards met in 2024. The award was handed to the charity this week and shows how volunteers are valued and demonstrates commitment to volunteering within the charity.

Investing in Volunteers is the UK quality standard for all organisations involving volunteers and aims to improve quality of the volunteering experience for all volunteers and demonstrates an organisation’s value the enormous contribution made by their volunteers. Together they enable organisations across the UK to achieve the award.

Age Cymru Dyfed’s Volunteer Manager Lynne Meredith said,

“I’m delighted Age Cymru Dyfed has met the standard and now have the award Investing in Volunteers for another 3 years! This recognition is testament to the dedication of staff in valuing volunteers and the contribution volunteers make to the success of our organisation, we simply couldn’t do what we do without our amazing volunteers!  

The staff work alongside over 60 volunteers across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, and Pembrokeshire, helping the over fifties enjoy later life, living independently for longer in their homes, through reducing isolation, increasing communication and providing a social network as well as supporting with other services. Our volunteers work across our service areas – with befriending, digital upskilling, social footcare, veterans project work and more.”

Age Cymru Dyfed’ Deputy CEO Caroline Davies said,

“I started at Age Cymru Dyfed as a volunteer within the organisation prior to becoming a member of staff. Every volunteer’s journey is different, and the impact volunteering has, to both the organisation and the person’s wellbeing is phenomenal. I am so very proud of our volunteers and the support they provide to help us be there for the over fifties in West Wales.”

CEO of Age Cymru Dyfed Simon Wright said,

“Many of our projects would not exist without fantastic volunteers who are instrumental in our service provision. They bring different ideas, increase awareness of our services and links within their local communities. They tell us the difference they feel they are making giving people their independence back and notice the confidence and changes their support makes to people in Dyfed. Many older people are not aware of the benefits they can claim, by helping, volunteers are making a huge impact to many lives in West Wales. Every time someone volunteers, they make a difference to someone’s life locally.”

Get involved

We encourage more people to come forward to help. For further information on becoming a volunteer please fill in our Volunteers contact form. We will be happy to send you info and arrange an informal chat or check out our pages online at Become a Volunteer (ageuk.org.uk).

About the award

The awarding body, UK Volunteering Forum, facilitates collaboration between WCVA (Wales Council for Voluntary Action) and plays a crucial role in promoting good practice in volunteer management and involvement.

The award shows volunteers and potential volunteers how much they are valued and provides confidence in an organisation’s ability to provide an outstanding volunteer experience. Age Cymru Dyfed was assessed against six quality areas and proved to excel in all aspects of working with its volunteers.

The Chair of UK Volunteering Forum who was the awarding body said;

“UK Volunteering Forum is delighted to announce Age Cymru Dfyed's successful achievement of this Award, they have demonstrated a real commitment to volunteering, and proven their volunteer management policies and procedures meet nationally recognised standards.

Investing in Volunteers is unique in that it is the only standard that focuses on volunteers. It is based on quality areas: vision for volunteering, planning for volunteers, volunteer inclusion, recruiting and welcoming volunteers, supporting volunteers, and valuing and developing volunteers.”