Volunteers will boost our towns

A new partnership has been announced that will help Buddies who signed up to the Scotland Cares campaign to get involved with local efforts to support vulnerable communities.

The initiative will be delivered by Scotland’s Towns Partnership and Volunteer Scotland.

More than 45,000 people have signed up to the Scotland Cares call for Covid-19 volunteers.

The scheme seeks to raise awareness of opportunities for people to volunteer in their own town centres and local communities.

The Scottish Government, through Scotland’s Towns Partnership, has just invested £ 1million into a Covid- 19 Business Improvement District ( BID) Resilience Fund.

The fund will allow BIDs across the country to deliver innovative hyper local infrastructure, food and medical delivery, schemes to support key staff and the NHS, digital and social media platforms, pay-now-get-later, local currencies and gift cards and virtual high streets.

Phil Prentice, chief officer of Scotland’s Towns Partnership and programme director for Scotland’s Improvement Districts, said: “Our towns need to build resilience before moving into the recovery and restructuring phases, so we’re delighted to partner with Volunteer Scotland to offer people the opportunity to volunteer and join that effort.

“With funding from the Scottish Government , people will be able to work with business improvement districts across the country to lend a helping hand when our towns need it most.

George Thomson, CEO of Volunteer Scotland, said: “We have all witnessed the community spirit of the country and the wonderful positive response to our call to action.

“This partnership will provide a wide range of new and vital opportunities for volunteer participation, for the new volunteers and existing volunteers, and another route to support local economies and communities at a time when we all want to contribute.”