Meet some of our amazing volunteers and the people they are helping throughout the COVID-19 crisis.

Mike Turner: Good Neighbours Volunteer

VODA’s Good Neighbours project coordinates a host of friendly volunteers who are keen to support their local community. During these difficult times, we have worked hard to help as many…

Read more

Volunteers’ Week: Good Neighbour Sherrill Bacchus

Sherrill moved to the North East from Cambridge four years ago. She had worked in recruitment for many years, but decided it was time for a change, as she didn’t…

Read more

Volunteers’ Week: MD Hamid – be there for your community!

Law student, NUS delegate, asylum seeker and volunteer MD Mominul Hamid believes in following his Mother’s legacy ”Be there for your community and be there for your people and something…

Read more

Volunteers’ Week: Kevin Dickinson and his hats!

Volunteer Kevin Dickinson has become a bit of a celebrity at North Tyneside’s GP-led vaccination clinics with his collection of silly hats. From what started out of necessity on a…

Read more

Volunteers’ Week: Good Neighbour Charlie Fernandez

Charlie got involved with volunteering as he doesn’t like sitting around. He has worked all his life, starting off as a merchant navy engineer and then became a mechanical engineer.…

Read more

Volunteers’ Week: A message of thanks from Paul Hanson, North Tyneside Council

As part of our Volunteers’ Week celebrations, Paul Hanson – Chief Executive of North Tyneside Council – shared his message of thanks to the volunteers who have supported the North…

Read more

A thank you from our beneficiaries!

Our volunteers have been a lifeline during the Covid pandemic for many residents. We managed to capture just a few of the messages of gratitude they wanted to share with…

Read more

Beyond Planet Corona

Volunteer Peter Mortimer kindly shared an excerpt with us of his musings on being vaccinated… Meantime, off for the second jab at The Parks, North Shields. I felt cheated when…

Read more

Lianne: a Moving On Tyne and Wear case study

Moving On Tyne and Wear (MOTW) is an employability project with the aim of moving people into employment or training. The project also includes volunteering opportunities to build on skills…

Read more

Andy Burtenshaw: Good Neighbours Volunteer

Andy is an ‘ex Southerner’ who has lived in the North East for more than 20 years. He has more than 30 plus years’ experience of working in HR, most…

Read more

Kerry: Good Neighbours Beneficiary & Volunteer

Kerry is one of our amazing Good Neighbours walking buddies, who has been working hard to help her fellow North Tynesiders during the pandemic. However, she did not start out…

Read more

How a small idea made a big difference to North Tyneside residents

How do you safely get cash from vulnerable residents to volunteers during a pandemic lockdown? This was the issue faced by the COVID-19 Support Hub during the early days of…

Read more

Kitty and the Virus

We love to hear the real life stories behind the names of people our amazing volunteers have supported during coronavirus and one little girl in particular has really caught our…

Read more

Leigh Culyer: Good Neighbours Volunteer

After seeing a number of posts on social media about supporting the most vulnerable residents of North Tyneside during the COVID-19 lockdown, retired Head Teacher Leigh Culyer from North Shields…

Read more

Pat: Good Neighbours Volunteer

Pat from Whitley Bay was in Spain with her husband and dog when the Coronavirus lockdown started to happen and they quickly made their way home. As soon as she returned,…

Read more

Anne: Good Neighbours Beneficiary

When the realities of the coronavirus started to hit home in the UK, like many, Anne from Longbenton realised she was in an at risk group due to taking immune…

Read more

Kacie: Good Neighbours Volunteer

Kacie was our first ever COVID-19 Good Neighbours food parcel delivery volunteer at the beginning of April and she’s still going strong! We managed to grab five minutes with her…

Read more

Maureen and Harry: Good Neighbours Beneficiaries

Maureen and her husband Harry are both in their 70s and live in sheltered accommodation in West Allotment. Due to various health concerns, Maureen has been shielding at home since…

Read more

Andy Newman: Good Neighbours Volunteer

Good Neighbours volunteer Andy talked to us about what tasks he has carried out so far during the COVID-19 crisis and why he decided to volunteer with VODA. We also…

Read more

Alex Clowry: Good Neighbours Volunteer

My name is Alex Clowry, I’m a homeowner in Chirton and currently a local Estate Agent who’s also studying at Northumbria University as a mature student in Building Surveying. I’ve…

Read more