The Volunteer Reader Scheme: 2,000 (and counting…)

From Anna McCracken, Volunteer Manager

We’ve just reached 2,000. 2,000 attendances by older people in Get Into Reading groups run by volunteers in Merseyside over the last 6 months.

In the second year of our Big Lottery funded Volunteer Reader Scheme, we are smashing our targets for reading with older people in care homes and other supported settings. We’ve been excited – although not surprised – by the popularity of the groups in Care Homes – staff members regularly tell us of the impact of the sessions:

“Asking for the care home reader volunteers was the best thing we’ve ever done!” - Activities Co-ordinator in a Wirral Care Home

Staff report back to us the benefits of the reading sessions on their residents, including improved social interaction, improved mood, and better concentration.

So we are celebrating this week, and we are particularly celebrating the hard work of our volunteers, who are dedicated to the task of taking Get Into Reading into new settings. They love poems and they love people – and that combination brings amazing results as they read aloud with some of the most isolated, vulnerable members of our society.

Thank you volunteers!

If you are interested in volunteering as a Care Home Reader in Merseyside please contact volunteer@thereader.org.uk.