Women's charity in call for men (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Fresh bid for volunteers by charity

5:30pm Saturday 2nd March 2013 in News By Adam Richards

THE Women’s Royal Voluntary Services charity is launching a fresh bid for more volunteers to joins its ranks – but they must be men.

The older people’s charity is trying to shed its reputation as a women-only organisation. It wants some of the three million men of all ages, who say they plan to start volunteering this year, to put their name forward to help the charity.

Founded as the Women’s Voluntary Society in 1938, it changed its name to the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service in 1966, and today it is known as the WRVS.

It runs a host of services aimed at helping older people, such as a meals on wheels service in Hart.

This year, the WRVS has launched a campaign to help older people suffering from loneliness.

Research from the charity found that 190,000 men over 75 suffer from loneliness. But only a fifth of the charity’s 40,000 volunteers are men.

David McCullough, WRVS chief executive, said: “WRVS has had male volunteers since at least 1949 but with an ageing population, we now need more men to join the charity to provide practical help and companionship to the older people we support.

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