Having moved from Bristol to Cardiff, Alison initially started volunteering with Good Neighbours in North Cardiff before becoming a trustee, and has been a member ever since for over 20 years. Her initial inspiration came from wishing to support someone locally in Cardiff as she hoped someone in Bristol would be doing the same for her own mother. A professional Building Surveyor in her day job, Alison has brought her own unique sense of order and construct to the charity, getting the best out of trustees and volunteers.

The Volunteering Wales platform was set up in 2018 to allow individuals to find a suitable volunteering opportunity according to their skills and interests. In 2023, Narges Akbari came out on top to win the Volunteering-Wales Most Active Volunteer award, having dedicated 200 hours towards volunteering!

A new category for the #CVA2023, NU Life Furniture is the honorary first winner. The organisation is founded on its belief to renew and refurbish furniture which would otherwise go to waste, giving it a new lease of life. The team which is made up of both staff and volunteers are passionate about what they do and provide workshops to the community to help them achieve new skills and see meaning in what we already have.

For the second year running, Lioness Community Projects are the proud recipients of this award. LCP’s work is focused on providing young people with opportunities to get involved in the community and upskill. In the project ‘Become a Youth Ambassador’, a series of activities were organised including sport, arts & crafts as well as music. Young people also had the chance to learn skills in radio broadcasting, podcasting and presenting thanks to Radio Cardiff.

Throughout her role as volunteer and ambassador for Single Parents Wellbeing, Sophia has been supporting single parent families, being the principal organiser for events which on average, engage over 30 single parent families per session. The events are created on the back of Sophia’s ideas, offering much respite for all involved. The group is peer-led and although Sophia works and studies, she makes time to volunteer and help single parents achieve their rights.

As the Chairperson of Grandparents raising Grandchildren, Lee has demonstrated strong leadership skills to help voice the pressures that come with kinship care. Her influence helped the group to take on a Kinship Care Development Officer with thanks to funding from Welsh Government after Lee represented the community to raise the issues being faced. Children are unable to stay with their birth parents for all sorts of reasons and Lee’s role is to advocate for those fighting for kinship care.

The Volunteering Wales platform helps organisations across the city find volunteers. In 2023, Tenovus Cancer Care created over 300 new opportunities in Cardiff to engage volunteers, making them our Volunteering-Wales Most Active Provider for the CVAs 2023.

Since 2019, Martin has been coordinating the activities of more than 40 volunteers across Welsh Refugee Council’s Cardiff, Swansea and Newport offices. Martin provides support and supervision to all new-coming volunteers, with an emphasis on the first 4-6 weeks of their volunteering. Volunteers are integral to WRC and are regarded as an integral part of the whole team, adding value and improving the lives of refugees and sanctuary seekers in Wales.

AP Cymru are striving to make the world a better place for neurodivergent children and young people by providing a toolkit of guidance, knowledge and understanding through lived-experience via their service, programme and training delivery. Currently, the charity are supporting over 1000 neurodiverse children and their families, including over 500 family units. AP Cymru also provide CPD accredited Neurodiversity training to businesses so that they too, are equipped with the knowledge to support neurodiverse employees.