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Welcome to October's Volunteer Network News
With World Osteoporosis Day coming up next Thursday 20 October and with it, the launch of our new osteoporosis risk checker and campaign, there’s much to update you on!
Prevention is the theme of our plans this year. 1 in 2 women, and 1 in 5 men over 50, break a bone due to poor bone health. This needs to change but we can’t do it without you. Read on below to find out how you help us reach people at risk.
In other exciting news, our Christmas cards are now available to purchase online and there are opportunities to get involved in National Rail’s health awareness days and The Make Every Contact Count project.
On a final note, please complete and return our annual volunteer survey, which is open now.
Best wishes,
Helen, Fiona, and Susan
Volunteering & Public Engagement Team
Get ready for World Osteoporosis Day!
We’re excited to give you a preview of our plans for World Osteoporosis Day next Thursday 20 October.
We’re launching a brand-new osteoporosis risk checker and prevention campaign to help people understand their risk of osteoporosis and learn more about bone health.
The online risk checker tool takes just five minutes to complete and gives people tailored advice about their osteoporosis risk, so they can take action to protect their bone health.
We’re asking you to start spreading the word by sharing the risk checker with your friends, family, neighbours, and colleagues. Together, we can break the silence on bone health.
We'll be following up with more information about the risk checker from next Monday 17 October, so look out for emails from marketing@theros.org.uk
ROS Christmas cards
This year we have a selection of six Christmas card designs to choose from, available in packs of 10. These are available now to purchase online at the ROS charity shop or by phone on 01227 811 616. We also have a limited selection of ‘pot luck’ cards, with a special 3 for the price of 2 offer while stocks last.
All ROS Christmas cards are printed on environmentally friendly FSC card, with our logo and charity message.
By choosing to buy your cards from the ROS charity shop this Christmas, you’ll
be changing lives by raising vital funds to support our Helpline, research, and campaigning.
Did you know you can also fundraise for the ROS when you shop via easyfundraising?
By joining easyfundraising for free, you can shop with 7,000 online brands such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco, John Lewis, Argos, Hotels.com, Just Eat, eBay and Uswitch while raising money for the ROS at no extra cost.
With Christmas around the corner, now is a great time to join and start fundraising while you shop.
1. Go to easyfundraising and join for free.
2. Click 'support this cause' and create an account.
3. Choose from over 7,000 brands to do your online shopping as normal and we will receive a free donation with every purchase you make, at no extra cost to you or us!
CAMEO support meetings
Our Come and Meet Each Other (CAMEO) meetings are our informal get-togethers, arranged alongside our more formal support groups. CAMEO meetings are a great way to connect with other people living with osteoporosis.
Belfast
Belfast volunteers Vera, Joan and Edwin have been busy this summer and led the way with their local community in Belfast. Their first CAMEO meeting was held at a local hotel with a space provided in the foyer. Invited attendees chatted to other people living with osteoporosis, sharing their top tips for living well.
Joan says:
“The receptionist was really helpful, even turning down the music so that we could hear each other better”.
Building on this success, the group have now moved to their local Tesco superstore community room. Again, the volunteers said that the Tesco community champion couldn’t have been more helpful. As well as the CAMEO meetings, Tesco have agreed to the group having an information and fundraising stall in the store later in the year.
From these contacts, our Belfast volunteers are now also regularly attending their local farmers' market, spreading the word about nutrition and good bone health. Pictured below are volunteers Joan on the right and Vera on the left.
Sheffield
Our Sheffield volunteers Kay and Irene have recently arranged their first CAMEO meeting in the city centre. There hasn’t been a support group in Sheffield for some time.
Kay says:
“Everyone was very enthusiastic, and the general feeling was that having a Sheffield area group was much needed and overdue.”
Kay and Irene were even able to recruit some new volunteers to assist them at future events.
If you’d like to know more about setting up your own CAMEO group in your local area, please contact us at volunteerengagement@theros.org.uk
2023 programme planning
As support groups and volunteer teams start to plan their programmes for next year, you may want to consider how your programme ties into the Bone Matters’ online Q&A sessions.
Maybe you can explore the topics being talked about at a national level in more depth locally. For example, the Liverpool group recently had a specialist dietician from the Nutrition and Dietetics department of the Liverpool Royal University Hospital speak on diet following the Bone Matters’ Q&A session on nutrition in the summer.
We’ll be sharing next years’ Bone Matters’ programme with you soon to help you with your programme planning. Some of the groups have had one of our specialist nurses or other ROS staff members talk at your meetings online.
If you’d like someone to join one of your meetings in 2023 virtually, please let us know. We want to reach as many people as possible at the meetings, so we may join areas together. You can even run a hybrid session, where the speaker is on the screen and the group is all together in the room.
Coming up - Network Rail’s health awareness days and MECC project
Network Rail's health awareness days
The ROS has been invited to Network Rail’s series of health awareness days for their staff teams.
Network Rail’s staff met the demographic of one of our key target awareness-raising audiences this year - predominately men under 65.
We’re looking for ROS volunteers, members, and supporters in the local areas to help us run our awareness stands. You’ll be talking to people about osteoporosis and bone health and directing them to our new risk checker tool and other resources. We’ll provide you with an ROS t-shirt (if you don’t already have one).
Dates and times
Monday 7 November - Liverpool Street Station (until 2.30pm)
Tuesday 8 November - Romford
Wednesday 9 November - Ipswich
Thursday 10 November - Ely, Cambridgeshire
We’ll be running the stand from 7.30am - 1pm but feel free to come along for a couple of hours if you can’t make the whole session. If you’d like to join us, please get in touch.
Make Every Contact Count (MECC) project
The Make Every Contact Count project is an exciting opportunity for the ROS to coordinate with some pilot NHS Mass Vaccination Centres. We’ll be sharing information on osteoporosis and bone health during the autumn roll out of flu and COVID-19 vaccinations and we’d love your help.
We’re looking for volunteers living in South West London near the pilot mass vaccination centres in Croydon, Sutton and Wimbledon and North West London in Brent and Ealing to attend in person and speak to people about osteoporosis.
We’re also looking for volunteers in North Central London to help us get information into vaccination clinics in that area.
The MECC project will be running until Christmas, so please get in touch as soon as possible to register your interest.
Volunteer opportunities
Marketing and communications volunteer
Are you a keen writer with some time to give? We’re looking for a volunteer to join our Marketing and Communications team to help create content that encourages people to make positive changes for their bone health.
In the role you’ll help the team research, write, and proof-read various types of content - from social media posts and blogs, to press releases and articles for Osteoporosis News magazine.
We’re looking for someone with experience of writing content for publications, a good working knowledge of social media and someone who could dedicate one day a week to volunteer in this role. The hours and days are flexible and there’s the opportunity to work from our office in Bath. Training and support are provided.
If this sounds like the role for you and you’d like to find out more, please email Imogen.smith@theros.org.uk
Office volunteers
We’re looking for local volunteers to join us in the office, helping us equip people with practical information and support to take action on their bone health.
In the role, you’ll be helping our membership and Helpline teams respond to information requests, updating our membership database, supporting our major events, and more.
The hours and days are flexible, and we provide support, training and out of pocket expenses within the greater Bath region.
If this sounds like the role for you, please get in touch for more details.
Thank you for reading VNN.
If you’ve got a story to share or would like to see something featured, please get in touch.
