Lifesaver Awards 2023: Shedding light on our incredible volunteers

Following the Lifesavers Awards 2023, our Volunteer Engagement Coordinator Valerija Fenutina sheds light on the exceptional role our volunteers have on Islamic Relief. 

From everyone here at Islamic Relief and the communities we serve: thank you! You truly are LifeSavers.

Our volunteers play a pivotal role in the humanitarian work we do, by dedicating their time and energy to helping at events, fundraising on the ground, creating social media content, campaigning for various causes, and inspiring others to support Islamic Relief’s work.

Once a year we try to bring together our core volunteers from different regions to give us an opportunity to recognise their achievements and celebrate their success at the national volunteer award ceremony known as the LifeSaver Awards.

This year, we had an opportunity to hold an event at the Edgbaston Stadium, which is a home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club and its T20 team Birmingham Bears.

We invited 200 exceptional volunteers and partners from across the country to come together as we acknowledged their remarkable work. 

In total, we presented awards across eighteen different categories. Some awards recognised specific skills and areas of work such as the Social Media Award of the Year, the Cake Campaign Awards, and others recognised overall volunteer impact in the region, such as the Regional Volunteer of the Year Award.

It must be said that decisions didn’t always come easy as we have so many volunteers doing truly exceptional work, often taking a lot of initiative and responding to our call at every opportunity they have!

What always amazes our staff is how our volunteers find the time to fit in the gratuitous service in their busy schedules. Many are busy with work, studies, family and personal challenges, and yet they still find time to volunteer. 

When asked how, our volunteers often say that the work they do is for the love of Allah, that their faith inspires them, and that volunteering helps increase their connection to Allah.

The passion for this work is born within the hearts. We see time and time again how this desire to help those in need and serve the most vulnerable, drives our volunteers to go above and beyond.

Truly, we see so much heart in our volunteers and it touches us deeply. They have so much compassion and faith in their hearts, and strive to make this world a much better place.

With thousands of people around the world benefitting from Islamic Relief’s lifesaving work, which our volunteers have contributed immensely to, it goes to show no matter how small one may think their contribution is, it has the opportunity to make a huge difference!