A Cornish volunteering charity is issuing a rallying cry in the face of ongoing austerity and further cuts to public services.
Volunteer Cornwall said resources such as people's valuable time need to be put to good use to help protect Cornwall from the worst of the cuts.
Andy Brelsford, from Volunteer Cornwall, said: "We have to go on fighting for more funding for Cornwall at every level but we also have to accept the reality that money alone wont solve all our problems. We need to unleash the power of people and get everyone in the county actively involved in community life."
And to show its commitment to the cause, the organisation aims to try to get everyone in Cornwall volunteering.
"We have set ourselves and Cornwall the goal of being the first and only county in the country to achieve 100 per cent volunteering rates," said Mr Brelsford. "Although we already have the highest levels in UK at over 32 per cent, we think the current situation with shrinking public services and austerity biting even deeper requires new thinking. All of the resources we need to thrive and prosper are already within our midst in the form of us – people power."
As well as traditional volunteering roles such as youth work and fundraising, people can get involved through initiatives like Time Banks and last year's Random Acts of Kindness week.
Now, working with partners including Age UK, the NHS and Cornwall Council, Volunteer Cornwall has helped develop Changing Lives, which focuses on involving volunteers in what it calls 'co-production' to create and deliver services were previously seen as the responsibility of the state or corporate business.
To find out more call 01872 265307 or visit www.volunteercornwall.org.uk
