Volunteers from across the South Eastern Trust came together for a night to celebrate and thank them all for their dedication and commitment in helping others across the Trust and the wider community. The Trust particularly wanted to acknowledge the huge amount our volunteers did effort throughout the COVID pandemic.
The South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust is remarkably proud of the fact that it has a total of 393 volunteers helping our patients and clients.
As part of the celebration event, a number of awards were presented to volunteers for their dedication and commitment to volunteering within the Trust. Volunteers Geraldine Merron and Angela Martin, who are members of Ards Ladies Committee, were presented with an award marking an amazing 42 years of voluntary service to the Trust.
Receiving her award, Angela Martin said, “When I was asked to join Ards Ladies Committee, I was the youngest member and now I
am the longest serving!” Ards Ladies Committee is a cross community effort to support our local hospital by raising money to purchase equipment to improve patient comfort and care.
Beaming with pride Angela added, “I feel volunteering has allowed me to give something back to the community. I really enjoy volunteering, it is like therapy for me and the social side of interacting with other people is great.”
Acting Chairman, Jonathan Patton stressed, “I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to all our volunteers within the Trust who go above and beyond every day helping those across our facilities and in the local community. I simply cannot thank you all enough for everything you do. These awards are a small token of my appreciation.”
Recognising the achievements of the volunteers, Volunteer Services Manager Sonya Duffy said, “Our volunteers are incredible for stepping up and helping, especially during the pandemic. We asked volunteers to take on new roles that they were unfamiliar with and they embraced this without hesitation as they wanted to help our patients and clients. They are all so kind, caring and genuinely lovely people. I am so proud of them all.”