In between March and July, when all volunteer activity was sadly suspended, we created a weekly volunteer newsletter. It was incredibly important to us that our volunteers remained a big part of the EAAA family, and this is something we will continue to focus on during the coming winter months.

Thankfully, in July, as lockdown restrictions began to ease, those who felt comfortable picking up volunteering duties again were able to help for a few months. Everyone was individually risk-assessed and focused on collecting over 100 full collection tins, out in their local communities. This generated over £16,000 of much-needed income. A huge thank you to everyone who helped with this mega task.

With the national situation changing over the past few months we have unfortunately had to limit our volunteer roles. Now we find ourselves back in lockdown, we have unfortunately had to press pause on volunteering once more. That being said, we are working on some exciting plans for next year to introduce the V-word and take our volunteers virtual!

Where possible, we are trialling virtual community presentations as well as exploring options around socially distanced collections with contactless donations, and tasks which can be safely completed from home. Watch this space.

A huge thank you to our brilliant volunteers for being patient, understanding and so supportive, at this time and always.

Together we save lives