Almost 300 volunteers who support the Black Country’s leading sight loss charity The Beacon Centre have been honoured for their dedication at a special ceremony.
A total of 290 volunteers ranging in age from 16 to over 90 have provided an amazing 50,000 hours supporting the Beacon Centre over the past year.
Their roles include retail support, day centre assistance, technology help, visiting people at home, administration work and much more.
The work of the volunteers in supporting the charity were recognised at a celebratory afternoon tea which took place at the Beacon Centre’s Sedgley base.
Several awards were handed out including volunteer of the year for the Sedgley site which went to Loraine Furness who has been with the charity since 2012.
She goes to the centre twice a week and helps with numerous tasks including fundraising, lunch clubs and community events.
The Stourbridge volunteer of the year was named as Pat Stenson who has been volunteering in the day centre since 2011. She helps with lots of activities such as crafts, exercise, socials, quizzes, cooking sessions and more.
Beacon’s retail volunteer of the year is Stephen Keenan, who has sight loss himself and has been helping in the Halesowen shop since
November 2015. He loves to talk to customers and goes the extra mile by raising money for the Beacon Centre by doing raffles.
Current volunteer opportunities include day centre assistance in Stourbridge, home visiting volunteers, grant and trust support volunteers and community voice volunteers.
Beacon Centre’s volunteer co-ordinator Rachel Shaw said: “All our volunteers are invaluable, we could not do our work without their help.
“They really enrich our work by bringing new ideas, giving generous amount of time and enthusiasm. We are grateful to all our volunteers for choosing to dedicate time to the charity and would like to say a very big thank you for all that they do.
“We are always looking for more people to offer their time and commitment with a genuine desire to help so if you are interested please do get in touch.”
For more information about volunteering at the Beacon Centre please email bsinar@beaconvision.org or ring Becky Sinar on 01902 880 111.