Charity’s got a gut feeling that Angus deserves volunteer award

Angus McLean won the Across the Board volunteering award for his contribution to the charity at an annual event to honour those who dedicate themselves to help.

More than 300,000 people in the UK are currently living with a lifelong disease that many people have never heard of – and the real number could be almost double that.

Because of the stigma and misunderstanding surrounding these diseases, thousands of people are suffering in silence. But they are not alone.

All those that were nominated for the awards were put forward by their peers and Crohn’s & Colitis UK staff for embodying the charity’s values of being compassionate, ambitious and stronger together, breaking ground with new practices or supporting the cause across the board.

The charity wanted to show its appreciation for the thousands of registered volunteers who are vital to the charity as they allow it to continue its work in improving diagnosis and treatment and funding research into a cure, as well as awareness raising to give people hope, comfort and confidence to live fuller, freer lives.

Angus said: “I was inspired to volunteer as I have first-hand experience of what it is like being newly-diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the impact that the symptoms can have on day to day life.

“I found that very few people had an understanding of these conditions and was keen to meet others in my local area affected by IBD in order to share experiences and receive and provide support.

“I jumped at the chance to join the relaunched Edinburgh Network and have been volunteering for the charity ever since.”

Angus added: “On a personal level my proudest achievement is co-founding the Spring Ball. This has quickly become one of the hottest tickets on the Edinburgh social scene and in the eight years it has been running it has raised more than £500,000 for Crohn’s & Colitis UK and IBD research in Scotland.”

April Trawicki, volunteer development manager at Crohn’s & Colitis UK said: “We are thrilled to recognise the massive achievements of our incredible volunteers with our awards. Our volunteers constantly inspire and amaze me with the dedicated time and effort they put in towards supporting the cause and the charity.

“People like Angus volunteer their time, skills and experiences in a variety of roles throughout Crohn’s & Colitis UK. We have hundreds of incredible volunteers but it was fantastic to give this award to Angus today, so a big well done to him.”

To find out more about volunteering for Crohn’s & Colitis UK visit www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/get-involved/volunteering/volunteer-with-us