Our Plymouth: one month on
It’s been one month since a project to mobilise volunteers in Plymouth was launched and the scheme is going from strength to strength.
Our Plymouth was launched on 21st October as Plymouth was one of seven cities to be awarded Cities of Service status in the UK. Our Plymouth aims to work with local residents to help them make improvements to the local community through volunteering, through the Cities of Service fund, which is paid for by Nesta and the Cabinet Office.
A range of training and volunteering opportunities are available under two projects – Grow, Share, Cook and Energy Champions. Plymouth is focusing on ‘heating and eating’ as these were priorities highlighted by the Fairness Commission Report.
Since the launch of the project:
- Tamar Grow Local has recruited via Our Plymouth 5 growing mentor volunteers and 3 delivery volunteers, plus 9 young volunteers. They are starting to help with soup runs and deliveries to food banks.
- Food is Fun have recruited via Our Plymouth 8 volunteers and will initially be working with 25 local families.
- Plymouth Energy Community (PEC) is holding a training session for people who want to become Energy Champions as part of Our Plymouth and the first session is for 15 potential Energy Champions.
- There has been more than 7,400 page views on the Our Plymouth website – www.ourplymouth.co.uk
- People are engaging through twitter via @ourplymouth with 70 followers so far and this is growing everyday.
Councillor Chris Penberthy, Cities of Service Ambassador for Plymouth City Council, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the success of Our Plymouth so far and it’s still very early days so we are hopeful that many more local people will become engaged with this fantastic project.
“As a cooperative council, we believe Cities of Service is a great vehicle to help us achieve our aim to create a fairer city where everyone does their bit, in this case through volunteering.”
Darin Halifax, Chief Cities of Service Officer for Plymouth said: “The project is going from strength to strength but we love to hear from anyone in Plymouth, whether you are an individual or representing an organisation, who wants to get involved in Cities of Service.”
To find out more about Cities of Service in Plymouth contact Darin Halifax on 01752 305446 or email darin.halifax@plymouth.org.uk
The Our Plymouth website can be accessed at www.ourplymouth.co.uk
You can also follow Our Plymouth on twitter at @ourplymouth
