Will you put on a street party, toast with Champagne, or have your feet up in front of the television? 

Perhaps instead, you’ll choose to follow the suggestion of the national ‘Big Help Out’ campaign, which is using this important celebratory weekend to call on whole communities to get involved in some form of volunteering activity. 

How we in Suffolk can make a difference for the King's Big Help Out

It’s little wonder this has been one of the Coronation themes, given King Charles’s enthusiasm for the voluntary sector and for the environment in particular. 

It’s also especially timely, because of the significant reduction in volunteering numbers which organisations across the UK have seen since the Cost of Living Crisis became a more worrying issue. 

Community Action Suffolk has certainly seen this playing out across the county, and it’s for this very reason that it has chosen to take the intention of the national focus, and to turn it into a more localised ‘legacy concept’ for Suffolk. 

#TheBigSuffolkPledge is all about getting individuals, organisations, communities and businesses to consider what they could ‘PLEDGE’ to do or make available, in support of volunteering in our county. 

From Friday, a new Pledge web presence will be available, at which you’ll be able to see a live tally of the number of businesses, causes and groups who have pledged to volunteer, to support volunteering, or even to develop a staffing policy around volunteering. 

The initiative will run until Wednesday 7th June, which coincides with the last day of Volunteering Week across the UK. 

In those weeks, it is hoped that hundreds of groups, charities, organisations, communities, schools and individuals will have confirmed a pledge, in the interest of supporting the success of volunteering in Suffolk. 

It could be as simple as someone committing to weekly volunteering at their local park run, to become a trustee, or just to sign up to Volunteer Suffolk. It could equally be a company owner implementing an Employer Supported Volunteering scheme (ESV), or a business leader volunteering the use of their building or grounds to host charity events during the year. 

The important message is that this is creating a legacy approach to a volunteering commitment in Suffolk, and that pledges can not only involve someone actively doing a traditional volunteer role, but that they may come from people wishing to donate, fund, or act in such a way which contributes to a long-term culture of volunteering – hence the message ‘FOR Volunteering’. 

Community Action Suffolk's Chris Abraham (Image: Community Action Suffolk)

Chris Abraham, Community Action Suffolk’s Chief Executive, said: “Ever since the announcement of the national concept of The Big Help Out, we have been delighted to think that the Coronation marks an opportunity to get more people thinking about, and involved in, volunteering. 

“However, here in Suffolk, we want to go further. We know we have so many leaders, communities and causes which could collectively and enthusiastically come together to pledge something for the longer term. 

“We want a campaign of several weeks which really kickstarts people changing the way they view their opportunity to do something which is FOR volunteering.” 

Further information can be found here: www.communityactionsuffolk.org.uk/thebigsuffolkpledge  

In the meantime, anyone seeking a volunteer commitment for the Coronation weekend in Suffolk, or wanting to take on something longer term, or register an opportunity, should go to www.volunteersuffolk.org.uk  

Further enquiries about how a business or organisation can become a campaign supporter should go to hannah.reid@communityactionsuffolk.org.uk