Marvellous Miriam urging support for volunteer initiative

A Salvation Army volunteer is urging anyone who wants to make a difference in their local community to get involved in The Big Volunteer Help Out next week.

Miriam Day, who attends the church and charity in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, said she hopes as many people will look for ways they can volunteer on Big Help Out day tomorrow, Monday, 8 May.

Miriam, 84, has volunteered since she was a child and was recently honoured for her contribution at The Houses of Parliament by Lucy Fraser, MP for South Cambridgeshire where she was presented with a South East Cambridgeshire Volunteer Award. Her volunteering roles at her local church include arranging a regular worship meeting for elderly people (Home League) and she also leads the Toddler group.

She explained: “My mother was insistent we should always try to help other people as often as we could. I’ve been with the Home League for 35 years and started at The Salvation Army’s Toddler group when my oldest granddaughter was a baby – she’s 33 now. I love volunteering and it’s a way of carrying out the Lord’s work and helping people in my community.”

As well as supporting activities at her local church by baking and selling cake, Miriam sews cushions and bags in support of the Breast Unit at Addenbrookes Hospital.

She said: “I’ve been told that having a heart-shaped cushion under your arm is so helpful and I keep in contact with the ladies there. I just love it and I think I may get more out of it than they do. If an event we are holding at the church needs food, I’ll do the cooking but I don’t do it all on my own, so I was thrilled to just be nominated for the volunteering award, let alone to win one because it recognises all our efforts. We obviously don’t do it for the awards – we do it because we want to.”

Miriam gets a huge amount of personal satisfaction from volunteering and said that anyone thinking of volunteering would be warmly welcomed at her local Salvation Army church.

She said: “There is always something somebody can do and we are constantly evolving. Over the winter for example, we started a warm hub which has now progressed into a weekly event so we need more help here. I will carry on for as long as possible volunteering in our wonderful community.”

For volunteering opportunities with The Salvation Army, visit: https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/volunteer