HEY Smile Foundation

Traditionally, Smile isn’t a volunteering organisation, our role is to champion and support volunteering across the East Riding. Supporting groups and charities to develop and deliver their own volunteering programmes, ensuring they are equipped with the resources and knowledge they need to manage volunteers.

However, the Covid19 pandemic saw Smile play a crucial role in volunteering. 2020 was one of the most unprecedented and challenging years in living memory. But rather than wait for solutions to come to the fore to help those in need, we immediately joined forces with our partners to adapt and rise to the challenge.

CallER Collective:CallER Collective telephone befriending service was one of the first services we launched to support the East Riding’s most vulnerable, lonely and socially isolated residents. Working in partnership with East Riding of Yorkshire Council, local charitable organisations, the NHS and businesses, it was up and running just four days after the country entered its first national lockdown and has since become a lifeline for so many. Dozens of volunteers came forward to offer befriending telephone calls to those who needed them most, offering a regular reassuring, caring and supportive voice at the end of a phone.

Vaccination & Lateral Flow Testing:In December 2020 Smile was asked to provide volunteers for two East Riding vaccination hubs. Within a week we were supporting two hubs with 60 volunteers and by January a volunteer management system was in place. By the end of March 2021, we had 1,200 volunteers registered and over 700 fully inducted. The programme continued to grow seeing volunteers mobilised across 26 vaccination and Lateral Flow testing sites across Hull and East Riding. 

Time2Volunteer:On behalf of East Riding of Yorkshire Council and in partnership with Hull CVS, Smile carried out a piece of work with key public, private and voluntary sector stakeholders to improve volunteering across Hull and East Riding, making it simpler, valued and connected. This led to the idea, creation and launch of Time2Volunteer.

Time2Volunteer Awards:Volunteers do the most amazing things. Smile launched the Proud to Be a Volunteer Awards in 2019 to recognise the efforts and outstanding achievements of those who volunteer across all types of organisations in our community. This year we have renamed the Awards to recognise and reflect the amazing new Time2Volunteer Partnership. Nominations are now open for the Time2Volunteer Awards.

Our passion and drive to make volunteering more accessible, inclusive, and rewarding for individuals to deliver vital services across the East Riding, as well as strengthening the organisations who rely on volunteers, is stronger than ever, and plays a huge part of Smile’s delivery. 

For support with volunteering please contact us via the details below. For sector development support for your organisation, please visit Beecan.