St Catherine’s volunteer wins prestigious local award
At St Catherine’s, we take great pride in our volunteers, and relish any chance to celebrate those who dedicate their time and skills to our hospice and to making a difference to our local community.
So we were thrilled when volunteer, Louise McLaughlin, who volunteers in our Redhill shop, was recognised at the Reigate and Banstead annual Mayor’s Volunteer Awards recently.
Lisa Jordan, Redhill Shop Manager, nominated Louise for an Individual Volunteer Award for her unfailing dedication and can-do attitude supporting our shop. Louise has volunteered in the shop, based at 7 London Road, Redhill, every Saturday since July 2009, wanting to give something back after having personal experience of our care.
Through her regular volunteering, Louise has become well known in Redhill for offering fantastic customer service, and taking the time to show an interest in each customer. In fact, she has made such an impact that people who regularly visit our shop ask for her by name. She also works hard to make the shop look its best which is vital in helping us raise funds to care for local terminally ill people. Currently, for every person we help there are two others we can’t. With the support of volunteers like Louise, we want to change this and make sure that in the future we can be there for everyone.
Lisa Jordan said: “Louise has shown outstanding commitment and motivation during her time volunteering. She’s adapted positively to changes, including learning a new till system, and is a reliable all rounder. She is a real asset to St. Catherine’s.”
Although she gives up her time for free, Louise will help our hospice whenever needed, by doing extra shifts and hours at the shop. She’s also supported us more widely by helping with a marketing campaign to promote volunteering. This encouraged other local people to get involved and donate their time to help us.
Peter Nesbitt, Volunteering Development Manager at St Catherine’s, said: “We are so grateful to all our volunteers for their time and dedication to St Catherine’s, and we are delighted that Louise’s outstanding efforts were recognised with this award. Currently, we have more than 1,000 volunteers who donate their time in 42 different roles. We simply couldn’t run our services without them.”
If you are interested in volunteering your time and skills to support your local hospice please visit here or call 01293 447351.
