Volunteer of the Month - May 2024 - Anita Bartholomew

Though she’d be the last to shout about it, Anita Bartholomew has volunteered tirelessly for the past 15 years as a very active member of the York & District Fundraising Group (formerly known as the Vale of York Branch), which she now heads up. 

It would genuinely be impossible to do justice to how much time and personal generosity she has given to fundraising for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, and this on top of her professional responsibilities within the Actuarial Existing Business Team at leading insurance company Aviva, who regularly support her efforts with matched funding from their Aviva Community Fund scheme.

Each year, Anita organises an extremely popular raffle at her workplace and – with matched funds from Aviva - last Christmas the amount raised totalled almost £1,000. Similarly, when the company first entered a team in the iconic York Dragon Boat Race, Anita ensured that Hearing Dogs was top of their charity list for sponsorship and support.

Community Fundraising Manager, Martin Peagam, says: “Anita is a wonderful volunteer, organising many of our regular fundraising activities like the Selby Fun Day, Stillingfleet Gardens Assistance Dog Event and Huntington Gala. In addition to the valuable match funding from her employer, she also uses her contacts to secure quality raffle prizes and other donations.”

One way or another, Anita’s free time is taken up with planning, executing or packing up from her many and varied, all-year-round schedule of fundraising events for Hearing Dogs. And as one of her York Fundraising Group colleagues says: “the beauty of Anita is that she just quietly gets on with it!”

In fact, the Benjamin Franklin adage of “if you want something done, ask a busy person” certainly rings true with Anita. She packs more into a day than most would in a week, and all accomplished with exceptional kindness, quiet composure and commitment. Her thoughtfulness is such that she even bakes delicious flapjacks to sustain the troops at events.

Stalls, craft fairs, family fun days, collection boxes, bag packs, sponsored walks, quiz nights, Christmas fayres, station and store collections, library events and rotary clubs, Anita has literally been involved with every endeavour over the years either as accomplished organiser or an ever-so-helpful, self-sufficient supporter.

She is hands-on; never shy of lugging tables, chairs and merchandise from her car to an event pitch in all weathers… and back again! And as any fundraiser of her calibre knows, it’s not just the turning up it’s the booking, paperwork, preparation, rota of helpers, logistics, communication, banking, thanking, plus a dining table taken over with tombola prizes and a hallway full of merchandise and banners!

Much of Anita’s success is down to her modesty, kind nature, and warm heartedness for others. Fellow volunteer Maureen Poulton says: “She’s a great fundraiser - such a smiley person, with never a bad word, who volunteers tirelessly for Hearing Dogs yet would never think of blowing her own trumpet.”

Volunteer, Jan Shally, agrees: “Anita will turn her hand to anything and always go the extra mile herself, rather than unduly putting on others. That said, her corps of volunteers are always willing to support her at events because she’s such a lovely, considerate person.”

Anita’s can-do attitude and flexibility with her packed diary, means she’ll invariably cover centrally organised events when others aren’t available. For example, she’s generously given her time to lead on the Paws Appeal, supported at Askham Bryan College - a new venue for 2024’s series of Great British Dog Walks - and is scheduled to help out with the Hearing Dogs Poppleton Tithe Barn Event – even on her very own birthday weekend!

Gaynor Cavanagh, Community Fundraising Manager, says of Anita: “Her help on the registration desk at my recent Great British Dog Walk was vital to the success of the day. It was quite full-on, and the weather inclement, however Anita greeted everyone with her efficiency and welcoming smile.”