The monthly e-newsletter is our main channel for communicating with volunteers. It generally goes out on the second Thursday of the month, though the schedule can sometimes change, especially around the festive period.
The e-newsletter contains information to help all volunteers feel connected to the organisation and support them in their roles — plus a dedicated section for the many volunteers in our local groups, and a listing of events volunteers can join.
Staying Active with MS is an online monthly peer support group open to anyone living with MS who'd like to get moving again.
We feature a different sport or activity each month — bringing you experts from the field who can explain how to get involved and how to overcome barriers to inclusion.
We also hear from people living with MS who take part in the activity, sharing their experiences and what being involved means to them.
The sessions are hosted by Phil Evans, who describes why these sessions are so important to him:
If you’ve not yet had a chance to look at our new, interactive Social Media Toolkit for Volunteers, check out our short video below for a quick overview.
Every June, all around the world, people come together for Pride Month, to commemorate the Stonewall riots - the protests that changed gay rights for many people in America and beyond.
As an organisation we’re committed to promoting equity, equality, diversity and inclusion (EEDI) in our work and community. You can find out more about our EEDI strategy here.
We’ve been hearing from groups that they’ve had enquiries from, or just know of, people struggling with day-to-day costs. With the current cost of living crisis, some groups have asked about offering grants to help with these costs.
But our current Health and Wellbeing grants don’t cover daily living costs. The process is focused on more specialised items, and isn’t designed for everyday items.
As you know, providing an environment where we can keep everyone safe must be a key consideration for every event or activity we plan. This is why we have a risk management system. And, to ensure that we’re meeting our legal obligations and duty of care, we also carry out risk management audits.
Before the pandemic, we completed these audits in person. An MS Society staff member would visit each group to look at their paperwork and check that their risk management met the required standards.
[You can turn the captions on or off by clicking on the little 'cc' button at the bottom of the screen. It'll appear if you hover your mouse over the video while it's playing.]
Some time ago, we started giving individual MS Society (MSS) email addresses to volunteers in certain roles. Our clear expectation was that volunteers must use these whenever communicating with an external person or organisation by email on our behalf, in order to
Maintaining accurate data on the Portal is important all year round. And spring is a great time of year to ensure your group’s information is as up to date as possible!
The Portal is a platform which displays important information we hold on our central database about our volunteers. Only local group volunteers in some roles and MS Society staff have access to it. It also allows local groups to share information about the services and activities they offer via the main MS Society website.
Congratulations to Sharon Hier, Group Coordinator of our Swansea and District Group!
Sharon's one of 500 outstanding volunteers in the UK (29 from Wales) to be chosen as the nation's Coronation Champions.
Photo: Sharon Hier with Wales' First Minister, Mark Drakeford
The award was made in recognition of Sharon's commitment to the MS community across Swansea and Carmarthenshire. While living with relapsing remitting MS herself, she raises awareness of MS and does all she can to improve the lives of others affected by it.
