Isle of Man charity given cash boost to help recruit volunteers

Antoinette Taylor has been appointed as volunteer manager for the charity

A charity which saw a drop in volunteers by 50% during the Covid crisis has been given a cash boost.

Junior Achievement has been awarded £15,000 by the Manx Lottery Trust to employ a part-time volunteer manager.

Antoinette Taylor has been appointed to the post, which includes helping to attract volunteers to support pupils.

The charity relies on business leaders working with students to develop their financial, literacy, and entrepreneurial skills.

Sue Cook, from the charity, said the number of volunteers had halved since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

She added that the charity, which works with about 4,000 pupils each year, "simply couldn't continue" without businessmen and women coming forward.

"The pandemic resulted in a loss of volunteers to work in schools and overnight our database reduced by 50%," she said.

"This was due to businesses struggling, some volunteers lost their jobs and others left the island."

She added anyone who had previously worked with the charity would be welcomed back.

Manx Lottery Trust chairman Sarah Kelly said she hoped the funding would help the charity "increase their volunteer numbers quickly to enable them to continue developing young Manx students".