Volunteers’ Week 2026

What’s your name and role at ELBA?
Louise Muller, Director of Partnerships.

Who do you volunteer with?
Primary school Parents Teachers and Friends Association (PTFA) and Cubs group.

What do you do?
I help organise and volunteer at events like the winter and summer fair, bat walk, quiz night and Cubs den activities.

Why do you do it?
To help fundraise for extra money for school to get additional resources for children, to help valuable extracurricular clubs like Cubs and Scouts to function as completely rely on volunteers and offer a wide range of skills taster sessions to young people that expand their horizons and offer excellent team building opportunities. It directly supports my own children.

Three words to describe volunteering:
Important. Joyful. Community.

What’s your name and role at ELBA?
Caz Simmonds, Head of Programme, London Works.

Who do you volunteer with?
Croydon Vision.

What do you do?
I’m a trustee.

Why do you do it?
To raise awareness around sight loss and disadvantages in my community, foster better working partnerships in the community and to champion inclusion.

Three words to describe volunteering:
Collaborative. Thought-provoking. Satisfying.

What’s your name and role at ELBA?
Luke Brown, Head of Programmes, BIG Alliance.

Who do you volunteer with?
As part of our staff benefits at ELBA/BIG Alliance, we get two days a year to volunteer. I like to use mine to volunteer with local causes I work with in Islington.

What do you do?
Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to support many different projects. I’ve planted trees in community gardens, socialised with isolated residents, wrapped gifts for asylum seekers and painted community centres.

Why do you do it?
It gives me a sense of belonging in my local community, and it’s incredibly rewarding.

Three words to describe volunteering:
Connection. Fulfilling. Vital.

What’s your name and role at ELBA?
Andrea Rannard-Lambert, Director of Partnerships & Communications.

Who do you volunteer with?
I volunteer informally and I also help out with food redistribution.

What do you do?
I share surplus food with my community.

Why do you do it?
I don’t want people to go hungry especially when there is surplus food that would otherwise end up in landfill. I am also concerned about the environment, so by helping redistribute food it also helps to ensure the food packaging is more likely to be recycled.

Three words to describe volunteering:
Needed. Wanted. Given.

[Photo by Staffs Live on flickr, licensed as CC BY-NC 2.0]

What’s your name and role at ELBA?
Smera Nadeem, Head of Programmes, Community team.

Who do you volunteer with?
Islamic Relief.

What do you do?
I volunteer during Ramadan, mainly helping out with the cake campaign. I help to promote the campaign and I deliver cakes to people who have ordered them.

Why do you do it?
I want to give back to the community and during Ramadan it’s a good time to give back more.

Three words to describe volunteering:
Value-driven. Purposeful. Gratitude.

What’s your name and role at ELBA?
Jasia Warren, Comms Manager.

Who do you volunteer with?
The Friends of Dog Kennel Hill Wood in South Camberwell.

What do you do?
As Chair of the group, my role is quite varied. I organise regular work days for our members. I also look after the group’s website, arrange committee meetings, liaise with the Council and organise events such as bat walks.

Why do you do it?
In order to raise the profile of the park and to ensure it is still there for future generations. I enjoy working with the Council to steer the management of the park towards increasing biodiversity and it’s a real pleasure to get out into the woods to hear the birdsong and see the native flowers we planted.

Three words to describe volunteering:
Vital. Uplifting. Rewarding.