Win for JBD at the JVN Awards

We are delighted to have won the Outstanding Innovation in Volunteering During the Pandemic Award for our work around connecting tenants virtually during the pandemic at the JVN Awards.

The award recognises the amazing support we have been lucky to receive from our dedicated volunteers and also the work of our Community Engagement Team.

At the beginning of the pandemic, we recruited over 60 new volunteers of all ages, who alongside existing volunteers, supported a Covid response shopping service for tenants who were self-isolating and who don’t have family support and a much needed telephone or online befriending service to ensure tenants didn’t feel totally cut off from the world around them.

Whilst the shopping service is no longer required, many of these new volunteers have continued with befriending and some also run Zoom sessions for tenants as part of our varied Zoom programme of classes and activities. All of this has helped tenants to feel engaged and part of a community over the last year and has helped combat the loneliness that the pandemic has caused.

JBD Chief Executive Lisa Wimborne said: “I am so proud that the fantastic work of Jewish Blind & Disabled especially the Community Engagement Team and our army of volunteers, many of them recruited at the start of the pandemic, was recognised this evening. We are so thankful for those who have dedicated their time to volunteer with us and we couldn’t do what we do without them.”

During the online award ceremony our Community Engagement Managers, Debbie and Simone, spoke about the work of our volunteers and the importance of it and Lisa spoke about how we have adapted our volunteering to help us both support and protect our tenants in these unprecedented times.

If you are interested in volunteering with us, please email: volunteer@jbd.org