Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people - Discover what this means

Volunteering – it’s Good For You

Scouts are today launching the #GoodForYou campaign designed to recruit thousands of adult volunteers – including over 70 in Wrexham – to help young people to reconnect, supporting their wellbeing and building their skills for life.

Adult volunteer numbers in Wrexham are down from 250 in 2020 to 184 for 2021. This drop in numbers follows a sustained period of growth, where total membership rose by over 250 people between 2006 and 2020 across the region.

“Outdoor adventure is back, young people are returning in their droves. That’s why today we’re calling on people to volunteer for the Scouts”

Gavin Scott, Area Commissioner

These numbers are an indicator of how the pressures and disruptions to life over the past year mean not all youth members have been able to continue. This is especially the case in communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

Scout groups across Wrexham are now looking to build back better and empower the Covid generation when they need most. To do this Scouts need more adults to step up and volunteer to lead young people. Scout volunteers will create opportunities for young people to recover from the impact of the pandemic by supporting their wellbeing and building the skills needed to succeed in life.

Over the next six months the Scouts will be running a series of locally focused recruitment campaigns across the UK, including in Wrexham, designed to encourage those young people and adults who drifted away during the pandemic re-join and to create new Scout groups in areas of greatest need. The campaign will be designed to appeal to new adult volunteers and emphasis why volunteering is good for your health, happiness, skill development and family life.

Since the first lockdown, Scout volunteers have provided thousands of hours of Zoom sessions, supported young people with at-home challenges like the Great Indoors and Hike to the Moon. And when restrictions have allowed, have run socially-distanced meet ups.

“I’ve gained more crucial experience and knowledge being with Scouts over the past two years than I have in the last fifteen years of work experience. Planning, preparation, social skills, networking, management, environmental scanning, problem solving etc etc, are all invaluable skill sets give an advantage when joining the business world, which you can’t learn from a classroom…

Being in the Scouts certainly has helped us through Covid and lockdowns. It’s opened our eyes to activities at home which we would have never had thought about. My son ended up wanting to do more Beaver badge work than actual school work. I can genuinely say, if we didn’t have Scouting throughout this past year, I think as a family we would have struggled.”

Ellen Haley, Section Leader, 6th Wrexham

What puts people off?

If we ask the question “Who wants to take over as Scout Leader?” we usually get a rush for the door!

This is because all most people know about Scout Leaders is that they appear incredibly busy, a little bit stressed and appear to always be there, every week.

But we have a new way of volunteering where lots of people work as a team each doing just what they can. This can involve helping book visits & guest speakers from the comfort of your home, or picking up some shopping and dropping it off when you drop the kids off.

Find out more about roles which will suit you

How is it #GoodForYou?

77% of volunteers said helping out improved their mental wellbeing

Volunteering is positively associated with wellbeing. And, in particular, that people with lower levels of initial wellbeing before volunteering tend to benefit the most from it.

68% of Scout volunteers say volunteering makes them feel less isolated

Wellbeing NCVOs’ Time Well Spent Survey (2020)/Pro Bono Economics