Volunteers’ Week is a chance to say thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers who give up their time to help make a difference to the lives of vulnerable people affected by overseas imprisonment.

Zeta MacDonald, our Deputy CEO, tells us what our volunteers mean to us: 

Those who give their time and expertise freely to support people affected by overseas imprisonment have played a vital part in ensuring Prisoners Abroad can continue to offer services during the pandemic. Volunteers have proved to be immensely valuable in delivering services such as telephone befriending for family members; offering a listening ear to complement and enhance our service user experience.

These are just some of the ways that our incredible volunteers support our work: 

• We rely on the expertise of our volunteer translators to break down language barriers and help our service users understand key documents that could potentially make all the difference.
• Every year hundreds of volunteers give up their time to send a Christmas card to people who are imprisoned overseas. In 2020, 1,908 cards were delivered through our Christmas Card Scheme. Each card brings hope to prisoners and helps to alleviate their isolation.
• Our corporate partners offer various resources to help people affected by overseas employment. This ranges from pro-bono legal advice to running mock interviews for returning ex-offenders seeking employment.
• We have five trained Volunteers who can call family members with relatives in prison abroad. Their compassion gives family members a safe, non-judgmental space to gain advice and reassurance about the difficulties and isolation they are experiencing. 
• Our Board of Trustees is made up of 14 fantastic volunteers from different backgrounds who use their collective experience, expertise and enthusiasm for Prisoner Abroad’s work to set strategic goals and guide the organisation.

Thank you to all our volunteers!