The 126 people in Dorset who give up their time to support The Children’s Society’s vital work to fight childhood poverty and neglect are part of a movement of almost 11,000 amazing volunteers across the country.

This week marks the 30th anniversary of Volunteers’ Week and I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to every individual in Dorset who volunteers their time, energy and skills to help us improve children’s lives.

Volunteers have been absolutely integral to the work of The Children’s Society since we started more than 130 years ago and this has continued to be the case in the last 30 years.

Our thousands of dedicated local fundraising volunteers have raised more than £156m to support our work in the last three decades.

Our retail volunteers have enabled us to build a network of almost 100 charity shops, raising millions a year.

There are so many actions people can take to make a difference – whether they can spare 30 minutes, 30 days or even 30 weeks.

We will be sharing some of them every day this week on our website childrenssociety.org.uk to help inspire even more people in Dorset to get involved.

Matthew Reed Chief executive The Children’s Society