For 2010 Leeds Year of Volunteering each month focussed on a different theme. Find out more about each theme below:

February

Volunteering for Health and Well-being
The February focus was on Volunteering for Health and Well-being. Health and well-being is something that matters to everyone - it's about how we feel, our ability to take care of ourselves and others, and about participating fully in life

March

Volunteering in Every Neighbourhood
One of the main themes of the year was Volunteering in Every Neighbourhood. This was about celebrating the many local activities of voluntary and community organisations as well as those "active citizens" who help out so many ways. A number of events were held, both through the Leeds City Council area committees and the Arms Length Housing Organisations (ALMO's). Events were held where people were offered volunteering opportunities near where they lived and could find out how to get involved.

April

Volunteering across the Generations
In April the theme was volunteering across the generations. Older people have valuable life skills and experiences and this was an opportunity to share them with people of other generations who may benefit from this know-how. During April a number of "inter-generational" events were held in communities across Leeds.

May

Volunteering for literacy and learning
In May the theme was volunteering in to help people learn. Volunteering as a school governor or as a mentor, or as someone to help people develop their literacy skills are all key roles. In May 'The Reading Pledge' was launched. This was an opportunity for people to make a commitment to literacy by signing up and making a promise to read or share a story with somebody during the day. All types of people signed up including children, parents, friends and workmates.

June

Valuing volunteering in Leeds
This theme focused on enhancing the quality of volunteering within the city. The month included the launch of the new compact between Leeds City Council and the Voluntary Sector, the launch of the new Leeds Volunteering Kitemark to be awarded to excellent organisations involved in volunteering and the Leeds Volunteering Toolkit which was designed to help organisations that wished to start using volunteers for the first time. A series of training sessions for Volunteer co ordinators also commenced during the theme month. The theme included a marketplace event in the City Centre for organisations wishing to recruit volunteers, a thank-you event held at Leeds Metropolitan University.

July

Volunteering for Leisure, Sports, Art and Culture
The July theme offered an opportunity to raise the profile of formal and informal volunteering taking place in sports clubs, in music drama, film and arts organisations in Leeds. The city is host to a huge number of festivals, some large like Leeds Fest, the Mela or the Chapeltown carnival, some of a more neighbourhood nature such as the Garforth, Holbeck, Kirkstall and Chapel Allerton festivals. Community Radio is a huge area of interest for volunteers. The month recognised the excellent achievements of volunteers within Leeds clubs and organisations. It helped increase the number of volunteers within sport and culture in Leeds and to ensure that they are recognised, rewarded and most importantly retained.

August

Volunteering and Environment, Parks and Wildlife
The August 2010 theme was about volunteering for the environment - celebrating the many volunteers and voluntary groups that help tackle environmental problems - community clean ups, creating and improving parks, helping to conserve our wildlife heritage, or assisting people as volunteer guides. In August we celebrated these people and organisations and the improvements they have made to our city.

BTCV Hollybush and Hyde Park Source (HPS) led the plans for Environment month. HPS work to accredit disadvantaged young people (13-19) doing community regeneration projects and BTCV work with a range of volunteers from different backgrounds and with different abilities; together they have over 50 years' experience of managing community conservation projects.

September

Volunteering for a safer Leeds
Many people volunteer to help keep places and people safe. Volunteer warden, special constables and neighbourhood watch schemes are all examples of where local volunteers work with the police and others to fight crime and allay people's fears about crime.

During the Year of Volunteering West Yorkshire Police launched a major recruitment drive to encourage volunteers into the service to undertake additional duties to those performed by police officers, police staff and the Special Constabulary.

October

Volunteering for All
During October we celebrated the diversity of people who volunteer, and it was an opportunity to highlight the volunteering work carried out by the faith groups within Leeds.

To celebrate the Volunteering for All theme, a leaflet called 'Making Volunteering Inclusive', was produced by the theme lead PSINetwork at VAL and a short film 'Volunteering for All' where people talked about their experience of volunteering and what they got out of it was made. The leaflet and the film were launched at an event at St. Chad's Parish Centre.

November

Children and Young People's Volunteering
This was a month to celebrate Children and Young People's Volunteering, for example the role and efforts of people helping in youth groups and in schools, and student volunteers. It was led by the Vinvolved Leeds team of Learning Partnerships.

An exhibition of photographs was shown in November, although not directly connected to the theme for November, the exhibition showed photos of volunteers from Leeds and along with their stories.

December

Celebrating Volunteering
The final celebrations of the 2010 Leeds Year of Volunteering happened in December. People were nominated during the year and were celebrated for their achievements. On the 1 December we were due to host the "Volunteer Oscars" award event at Leeds Civic Hall but this was unfortunately cancelled due to heavy snow and rearranged for Saturday 26 February 2011. See the list of winners.