A Year of Service 2012

Every month during 2012 nine major faith communities will host a day of volunteering in communities and businesses across the country and will invite people of other faiths, and those without religious beliefs, to join in.

A new initiative, A Year of Service will help highlight and link up these projects during 2012.

Business in the Community is supporting this initiative and is encouraging member companies to add their support.  We are delighted that Hogan Lovells LLP has already signed up to support the initiative.

Faith groups make an enormous contribution to our society – including through volunteering. Many thousands of men and women of faith regularly volunteer for projects that benefit those in need or improve our environment. A Year of Service will showcase and link up these projects.

Each community’s Day of Volunteering will be linked to one of its religious festivals, or to an existing volunteering day such as the Jewish-led ‘Mitzvah Day’ or  the Hindu-led ‘Sewa Day’ or. Each day will have a theme, such as visiting the elderly, feeding the hungry or planting trees. The intention is for the Business Community to play its part.

For example, a Christian group in a large office  might  lead a project to collect food to feed the hungry during Harvest Festival, and invite  the Muslim or Hindu group  in the office to join in. A  Buddhist employee might arrange the clean-up of a local park during Asalha Puja (Buddist Action Day) inviting his Christian and Jewish colleagues to take part too . Projects will also give local faith groups an opportunity to mark the Diamond Jubilee together – service being a key theme of HM the Queen's long reign.

Service is not just a ‘giving to’; it is a ‘receiving from’. Every volunteer learns from and builds a relationship with those they serve, within and across communities. A Year of Service will help forge such friendships, increasing neighbourliness and strengthening bonds of community. Its aims are to increase volunteering, improve understanding and practical cooperation between people from different faiths and none, and promote good relationships between employees from different backgrounds.

The programme involves the Bahá’í, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian communities. The Department for Communities and Local Government is facilitating a steering group to manage the programme, comprising the Inter Faith Network for the UK, the Faith based Regeneration Network, the Coexist Foundation, the Church of England, Mitzvah Day and Business in the Community.

Everyone is invited to get involved! Email info@ayearofservice.org.uk or see www.ayearofservice.org.uk for project ideas, advice and much more.