Northampton community group use volunteering with parkrun to help connect with their community

Josh Hendrickson, who works for JH and Oarpel Community Support in Northampton, is a keen runner himself and had the idea of turning to parkrun to help two of his clients, Ben and Stephen, feel more connected with their community, he said: “We wanted to give our clients the option of taking part or volunteering.

“Ben and Stephen are both very social and enjoy meeting new people, volunteering at parkrun was ideal for them.

“Signing up was easy and the team were really friendly.

“They did need a little help from their support workers to use the app but after a few scans they cracked it and found it easy.

“Both Ben and Stephen had a smile on their face the whole time and made lots of new friends!"

Hendrickson was quick to notice the benefits for the two and he added: “The benefits are massive for Ben and Stephen, they are meeting new people, trying new things, learning new skills, being outside and keeping healthy.

“They loved the responsibility of scanning, and the feeling of being part of the team."

One of the things that stood out most for Hendrickson was seeing Ben and Stephen, who are just two of the nearly half a million volunteers that have contributed to a parkrun event in the UK alone in the past 19 years, really embrace their roles, he explained: “It was so nice to see Ben and Stephen clapping all the runners, scanning their barcodes as they crossed the line and telling them well done.

“Stephen even made a friend in the café after and invited him down to the local snooker hall for a snooker match, this is what it’s all about!”

Hendrickson is a keen parkrunner himself, even having his stag do at the Brighton parkrun, he knew parkrun would be ideal for helping the individuals with disabilities he works with to connect with their community and puts this down to the ‘fantastic community feel’ parkrun has with it being ‘incredibly accessible’.

The community support group has plans to take a group once a month to different parkruns where they can volunteer or take part with the aim to encourage more people to join the supportive community.