IT seems we have become more aware of days and weeks that celebrate specific causes, whether it is National Bee Day, Talk Like a Pirate Day or Grandparents’ Day.

The purpose of celebratory or recognition days is to highlight and draw focus. It’s as simple as that.

This year National Volunteers’ Week runs from June 3 to 9.

That’s a whole week to celebrate the work of volunteers and their value in so many community groups.

Look around and you don’t need to go far to find a volunteer.

They can often be found collecting for a good cause, working in a charity-based retail store or stocking a vital community fridge or foodbank.

Then there are the more unusual volunteering roles — wrangling fish in an aquarium, knitting chickens or simply patching a mascot suit.

It seems there is a volunteering role to suit anyone’s skills. During this week, many community groups will be celebrating the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

You can be sure that these celebrations are driven by enthusiastic volunteers and a committee of locals who want to make a difference in the community.

Their passion for keeping the sense of community alive and helping others allows everyone to take part, to celebrate and feel good.

We are pretty good at putting our hands up and asking how can I help.

In 2021-22 around 14.2 million people volunteered. It is estimated that 8.3 million people volunteer once per month within the 165,768 voluntary organisations in the UK, based on figures for 2022.

Statistics of course can tell many stories — how many people do volunteer and how many hours we spend volunteering.

But they don’t tell the whole story. For many of us, we continue to put our hand up in a more informal way, bringing back the sense of community we experienced during Covid.

We help with grandchildren, pick up the neighbours’ shopping or give a friend a lift to the doctors.

We still voluntarily give our time to others, even if the statistics don’t show the true figures of helping.

In my role, I work alongside charitable groups and help recruit volunteers.

The need for more help is always there, whether it is drivers to help with hospital appointments, someone to support a girl guide group or a new volunteer to help in a community garden.

Communities are enthused about growing together, supporting their own youth, picking up litter and together enhancing the local area.

It’s about being there for each other.

In short, volunteering is a feel-good feeling, it does us good whilst we do good for and with others.

To all our volunteers, whether you volunteer formally, help in your own neighbourhood or you are about to put your hand up, thank you.

On behalf of all the community groups and charities, we couldn’t do it without your help.

To find out more about volunteering roles in your community, get in touch at volunteering@communityaction.org.uk.

Our columnist Samantha Palmer is the volunteering manager for Community Action Malvern & District.