//By Rob Gooding, Community Organiser
Rob nominated Jo for the volunteer of the month award in Wickersley Ward in December 2020.
This is a project run by RMBC staff and local councillors Jo is has run the local SEND youth club for children with additional needs for the last two years and was looking to expand this to other areas of Rotherham until Covid struck.
Continue reading “Jo Workman” //Christina first became involved with RotherFed through the RotherSteps project, this was to help her lose weight and improve her fitness. During the project she has regularly input her steps and posted pictures of her walks. So far over the seven weeks of the project she has entered an amazing 315,882 steps so far in the project and came in third place in the first month with a massive 242,108. During conversations with Christina, she has mentioned how difficult it is as woman to walk in local beauty spots alone due to the dark nights at this time of year and has spoken about starting a walking group in Greasbrough when COVID restrictions ease.
As Christina found out about more of RotherFed’s projects she became interested in the befriending calls and has since signed up as a befriending volunteer and will start making regular calls to lonely and vulnerable people as soon as her DBS has returned. This is an ongoing project to tackle loneliness in Rotherham where we match volunteers to people that have requested a friendship call.
Christina has expressed an interest in getting further involved with council services and I am currently discussing options on how she can get involved in Housing Involvement Panel meetings and putting community projects ideas into RMBC through the housing hub suggestions.
//Are you interested in helping others?
Do you enjoy a good chat with someone?
Have you got the odd half an hour to help someone feel that bit less lonely?
Then telephone befriending could be the role for you! Our volunteers call people who have identified themselves as lonely and offer them a friendship call. Calls last on average for 30 minutes and make a real difference to people’s week. All volunteers receive full training for this role and are supported by a staff team.
