My Cancer My Choices, a charity based in Charvil, has been awarded The King’s Award for Voluntary Service.
This is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the U.K. and is equivalent to an MBE.
My Cancer My Choices (MCMC) provides complementary therapies and support to people living with, and beyond, cancer across Berkshire. Its mission is to empower people with cancer, enabling them to make active choices to enhance their well-being, as they come to terms with their diagnosis.
Specialist therapists volunteer their time to offer a range of one-to-one and group therapies which help manage the side effects of conventional treatment and improve mental and physical health. These choices are offered from the time of diagnosis, and are not restricted by individual’s finances or cancer stage.
The charity has around 65 volunteers at four locations across Berkshire. In addition, the charity’s “Meeter Greeter” volunteers regularly donate their time to welcome the service users for their appointments, providing a friendly welcome and a cup of tea, and manage the service user’s bookings.
The charity is also supported by an experienced board of volunteer trustees, and a volunteer fundraising committee, which raises the funds needed to run the charity, as well as volunteers who help the organisation with its admin and marketing.
My Cancer My Choices’ founder, Mandy Barter, said: “We are so proud to receive this award, which is in recognition of volunteers – both past and present – who are truly outstanding and who make a big difference supporting people with cancer in our community.
“We could not deliver our service without our exceptional group of dedicated, caring, professional and hardworking volunteers. This award is a wonderful acknowledgment of them.”
The MCMC volunteers make a significant impact on the service user’s experience, as acknowledged by Claire Grove, who benefited from the therapies;
She said: “I can’t stress enough how much of a difference the My Cancer My Choices volunteers make.
“From the greetings I got when I attended sessions, to the therapies I received, I felt embraced by everyone I met.
“The gratitude I feel to those volunteers, as well as the ones who work behind the scenes to ensure therapy sessions are well organised and booked, and to the volunteers who fundraise for such a valuable service, is immense.”
MCMC was registered as a charity in 2015, and since then has supported more than 2,000 people with cancer, delivering more than 7,500 treatments and 65 courses across Berkshire.
Volunteers currently donate around 700 hours a month to help deliver therapies at the MCMC office in Charvil, in Deanwood Park (West Berks), at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine (Reading) and at Bracknell Healthspace, as well as virtually, with a view to making the service accessible to as many people as possible.
My Cancer My Choices is just one of two organisations to receive this highly prestigious accolade in Berkshire this year. Nationally, just 262 local charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups will receive the award this year.
Representatives of My Cancer My Choices will receive the award crystal and certificate from Andrew Try, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, during early spring 2024.
Two volunteers from the charity will also be invited to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace next summer.
Those wishing to support My Cancer My Choices through donations or by joining the volunteer team can find out more at www.mycancermychoices.org.
