Celebrating our volunteers during National Volunteers Week

During National Volunteers' Week, we want to take the opportunity to recognise and celebrate the individual contributions of our incredible volunteers and highlight the brilliant work they do to help us make a difference.  

“All the good that Cerebral Palsy Cymru does to support children and families across Wales living with cerebral palsy could not happen without our volunteers.” says Joanna Di Somma, HR & Volunteers Manager at Cerebral Palsy Cymru. “Since I’ve started working here, I’ve had the privilege of meeting a few of our volunteers and I have been completely blown away by their joy, their passion and their commitment to the charity. They enable us to do everything we need to do – they enable us to raise the funds we need, and we are so grateful to all our volunteers – thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts.” 

We have 4 charity shops dotted across Cardiff and the surrounding area, and last year the income generated from the sales in our charity shops raised £444,000.  

“Without our volunteers, it would be very difficult to keep our shops going,” says Janet, our Talbot Green Shop Manager. “Our volunteers all enjoy doing different jobs, some of them are happy working the till, some are happy to do steaming, some are happy to go through the donations and organise the stock, but at the end of the day they are all very valuable to us and we couldn’t do what we do without them.”  

” As shop manager of Cerebral Palsy Cymru's Crwys road shop, I am constantly in awe of the dedication and compassion demonstrated by our volunteer team," says Eithne. "They selflessly give their time and energy to support our mission of improving the lives of children and families living with cerebral palsy, and their impact can not be overstated. Without the commitment and enthusiasm of our volunteers, we simply wouldn’t be able to do what we do. To all of our hard-working volunteers, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your invaluable contribution- you truly make all the difference! Thank you.” 

When you volunteer at Cerebral Palsy Cymru, we want you to feel a part of our family. Our volunteers are at the heart of our organisation, and we do our best to ensure everyone has a positive and fulfilling experience.  

“I’ve always worked in charity retail, but I have to say this is the happiest shop I have ever worked in with regards to our volunteers,” says Helen, our Llanishen Shop Manager. “Every day that you come in there is always a laugh, there is never a day that you come into work and you feel unhappy, because everyone gets on so well.” 

Volunteers’ Week is an annual celebration of the contribution millions of people make across the UK through volunteering in their communities. As well as helping others, volunteering has been shown to improve volunteers’ wellbeing too.  

“When I retired from the civil service, I had a year off and it was lovely… and then I got bored - really really bored” says Christine, who volunteers in our Barry shop. “I missed meeting people. When you work in an office for 30 years you meet a lot of people, so my first port of call was volunteering at Cerebral Palsy Cymru because of my family background, (Christine’s nephew Tom has cerebral palsy), and I’ve been volunteering here for 5 or 6 years now! I love it! I’ve been on the sick for a few weeks now and I really missed the company of the people I work with and the customers. It’s necessary, I think, for your mental health. I think everyone should do a month of volunteering – it would cheer a lot of people up!”  

Here at Cerebral Palsy Cymru, there are loads of different ways that you could get involved to help us make a difference. From helping in our charity shops, volunteering on reception at our children’s centre, assisting our e-commerce team with our online retail store or working alongside our fundraising team at events, there is a volunteer role suitable for everyone!  

To find out more about our volunteering vacancies, please email joannad@cerebralpalsycymru.org or complete our short application of interest form: Volunteer Interest form (office.com) 

Watch the video below to hear more from our wonderful volunteers and learn about the positive impact that volunteering has had on their lives.