The Salvation Army is celebrating the 90 volunteers who offer their time for free to provide vital emergency support provision in the North West this volunteers week.
The church and charity has praised the hard work and support it receives from the team throughout the year, attending some 100 call outs every year to support local emergency services.
Over the years, members of the team have helped the police, fire services and other authorities attend to natural disasters such as floods and wildfires as well as major incidents including explosions. The Salvation Army volunteers are hand to offer hot and cold refreshments, food and emotional and spiritual support to crews who are dealing with urgent situations.
Major Nigel Tansley is the Emergency Response Co-ordinator for The Salvation Army in the North West and has been overseeing the work of the volunteers for the past 20 years. He said: “Volunteers form a very special part of what we do at The Salvation Army and the support they provide to our emergency response programme is fantastic; we simply couldn’t continue to do the work we do without them.
“Volunteering isn’t just about helping out; it is about being an active and integral part of any organisation, and for our emergency response team it is key to the level of support that we can give to the emergency services in the North West who are under immense strain at the incidents they attend.
“Our volunteers help us to provide food and refreshments to sometimes more than 100 professionals at a time from the fire brigade, police, environment agency and many others during what are really terrible conditions so they can focus on the job at hand. We see this as a vital part of our work and all our volunteers make a real difference to the community, often being applauded by the crews when we arrive, which is great to see.”
The volunteers attend incidents alongside the Emergency Response Vehicle for the county which are set up to cook and serve from providing nutritious meals for every diet.
The Salvation Army’s emergency response service within the North West is solely funded by donations to the church and charity’s divisional headquarters for the region – with four vehicles operating across four counties; Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Lancashire.
