Why St John Ambulance needs volunteers

National Volunteers’ Week is an annual celebration of the 21 million wonderful people that spend their time making a difference across the UK. Our head of volunteering Adam Williams tells you all about volunteering at St John Ambulance.

Volunteering is fundamental to the success of St John Ambulance. We have thousands of volunteers who give something very special – their time. As the leading first aid charity, we believe that no one should suffer from the lack of trained first aiders. Our volunteers are fully committed to ensuring we deliver this mission in a whole variety of ways.

In 2015, our first aiders gave over 1 million hours providing first aid at thousands of events right across the country, helping anyone who needs it. Alongside this, we also have many other volunteers who provide vital services such as being a youth leader with one of our youth groups, or assisting our logistics teams in making sure we get the right equipment in the right locations.

When our volunteers join St John Ambulance, they gain new skills and have the opportunity to try our new experiences. There is no better feeling than knowing that what you are doing is having a really positive impact and giving back to the community. Our volunteers meet lots of new friends and make great connections with people from all sorts of walks of life who they wouldn’t have met otherwise. Volunteering allows people to meet a wide variety of people from all sorts of walks of life.

One of our volunteers summed this up perfectly recently when she said: 'It’s being able to walk into somebody’s really, really, bad day - and even if it’s not something serious - make that bad day a much better day, and make it much nicer.'

Our volunteers are vitally important to us and we wouldn’t be able to achieve our charitable mission without them.

Your donation could help support our thousands of volunteers

Donate now